Behind the Broken Smile of the Moon
by MangaFreak3
Summary: The memory of a person long passed resides in object of great sentimental values. Treasures. That's what we used to describe those irreplaceable object. Even if it means crossing over to a world not of his own, the Onmyouji will be sure to retrieve it. There's absolutely no way he'll allow that thing to taint his memory and disgrace his legacy like that!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **AN:** This is the reboot of "Stranger in the Blues" now known as Behind the Broken Smile of the Moon.

This story is written for my personal enjoyment. Any constructive feedback and reviews are welcome!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own anything aside from my OC. One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

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It was a quiet night. With barely a nigh of breath to be heard, save for the rustling of leaves, even the crickets were silent; oddly so for a night as peaceful as this. Yet there was a saying that there is calm before a storm. Even one such as insects was able to sense the impediment changed in the air.

Something had happened here. And it didn't take a genius for him to figure out that whatever it was, it wasn't anything good. For once in the night, the blood moon had hidden himself behind the curtains of black clouds. In the hazy overlapped shadows of various objects, the uneven pavement beneath his feet gave way to indicate the state of the courtyard was in. Something wet stuck to the sole of his shoes and he what he feared the most had become the truth. As the cloud parted once more, streaks of moonlight illuminated the environment of broken walls, destroyed greenery and perhaps the worst of all, river of crimson blood.

Pristine was it condition, once, yet now the Court Yard of the Sacred Shrine was no more than a dumping ground for pile of quickly cooling messes of carcasses.

He sucked in a deep breath and pressed his lips into a thin expression. The thing he feared had just became reality.

Without another words, he stepped further into the compound. Deeper and deeper he went into the Shrine; the dead bodies of his comrades became more frequent. Feet tapping through the wooden floor, he sped down the hallway toward the main quarter of the Shrine. His black blazer and ties—befitting of a funeral, he supposed—trailing after him as he picked up the speed.

Arriving in front of the double wooden sliding door, he slid it open and was greeted with a the sight of the Shrine maiden bleeding to her death; her neck having slit opened liked one would do to drain the blood off of the livestock. Heavy was his thought as he solemnly closed the dead girl's eyes, making it as if she had died in peace. Surrounding him were fallen pieces of candle stands and broken woods. It was obviously that she did not went down without putting up a good fight, judging from the tattered wall and talismans scattered throughout the whole room.

"You've done well," He whispered and switched his gaze to the center of the room, where a round silvery rimmed mirror sat innocently. It was anything but innocent, if he was to judge by the bloodied claw marks on both side of the mirror. It was as if something had held the mirror with both his hands and stuck his head into the mirror. The angle of the palm placement suggested no other possibility.

"So the Seal was useless after all," A soft shuffling sound signaled the arrival of a silvered hair woman whose hair reaches her tail bone. She was dressed in the traditional Shrine Maiden outfit with more elaborate adornment than the standard white and red kimono and hakama. Her heart shaped face and crescent shaped eyebrows accentuated her oriental eyes; not even the frown and creased on her brows could mar her beautiful features.

"Kaguya," He nodded, acknowledging her presence and also affirming her observation.

"The Gate abruptly opened by itself was already ill omen," She sighed and approached the mirror, which glowed beneath the moonlight that had fallen through the broken roof. "I just didn't expect it to be this soon..."

"Don't blame yourself too much on this," He said and stepped closer to the light source. A grim expression settled over his squared face. His angular jaw was visible from the way he clenched his teeth out of anger. His thick eyebrows and trapezoidal eyes—the set of eyes that held wisdom achieved through age—betrayed nothing of his internal turmoil.

"I should be the one to say that to you, Niijima."

He was silent, choosing not to acknowledge her words for it held no truth in them. It was his fault that the entity escaped. If only he hadn't dropped his guards and let the malevolent spirit slipped past him, it wouldn't have gotten a chance to enter the compound.

"I will take responsible for my failure." The middle aged man chose to respond. "I will track it down and exorcise it."

"You shall do none of that," Kaguya sharply barked as a dangerous gleam entered her eyes. "As the Head Priestess, I command you to stay."

"It doesn't matter Kaguya, step aside and let me go." Niijima solemnly stated.

"No one knew where it even leads to! You may never come back, Niijima." Kaguya adamantly barred his way. "For all I know, the _Fukitsu-mono_ is already dead on the other side!"

"You don't know that. What if it was wrecking havoc in the other world? We both know how invasive that thing was." Niijima argued. "I am not letting it destroying the other world like that!"

"Please, Kyousuke, don't go," She spread her arms out both side and blocked his path. Her usage of his first name was not lost to him.

"You know I can't do that. Kaguya..."He softly replied with a tender undertone and glanced back up at the moon. "If he were here, he would have been so disappointed in his sensei..."

Kaguya sharply inhaled. "Don't. Please don't bring him into this..."

"Sorry..." It was a tender moment for the both of them, but it was quickly broken when Kaguya glared at him.

"Regardless, the answer is still no. I cannot, under my conscience, allow my man to go to his death without a good reason."

"Kaguya-"

"Enough! If you respect _him_ at all, you should not throw away your life like this."

With a snarl, Niijima was about to retort at her accusation when a soft sound brought their attention away from what could potentially be a problematic fight.

"Who's there!?"

"Show yourself!"

They both simultaneously snapped their head toward the clinking noise of someone shuffling clumsy over the broken metallic candle holders. It was with fascination that their sights rested on a pile of rubble from the destroyed walls and roof. They glanced at one another and quickly came to a conclusion.

Hurriedly over to the pile of woods and stone, Kaguya quickly dismissed the offending object away with a quick spell. A badly beaten up young girl lied beneath the rubble as blood ran freely down her body. She must have crashed into the wall and had the environment came down on her from the impact. It was already a miracle that she wasn't dead. If the impact from the force of the attack had not killed her, surely the force from the wall would have squashed her.

"She's still alive!" Niijima hastily performed a quick scan for her pulse as he cradled her in his arms. "Quick, we need to bring her to the healer."

"N-no..." Before anyone could react, the girl weakly rasped and raised her shaky hand, which Niijima took hold off. "It took it… the Crown...it-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she gave another violent cough as her heart gave out. All this time, she must have been fighting just so she could deliver this message to her superior. As her hand fell limp inside his grip, Niijima's expression darkened beyond words.

"Kaguya," He curtly said. His tone held a sense of finality in it that Kaguya could not help but sighed.

Snapping his head up, he fixed her an unreadable expression, one that spoke volume of his mentality. "If you insist on stopping me, then please don't blame me for what I will do next."

Whatever Kaguya was about to say was interrupted by Niijima's outburst. "It fucking took _his_ Crown!"

"You do know that this will be last time we will see one another if you choose to enter that Gate!" She snapped back, ignoring the furious look on his face. "Don't you understand!?"

Niijima glanced away, unable to meet her gaze. "I'm sorry… but this had just become personal. I can't let the last of his belonging being defile by the like of that damn _Fukitsu-mono._ " Softly, he lowered the recently deceased shrine maiden's assistant as he muttered a quick prayer for her. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Kaguya flinched but he squashed down his guilt in favor of his anger.

A look of hurt flashed over her face as her shoulder drooped in defeat. "…Can't say I don't understand your feeling..." She gave a bitter chuckled and brought her hand over her heart. "It was hard for me too, when he left..." She glanced at the moon the same time he lifted his head.

The moon was an important symbol for both of them, one more so than the other. Yet, it was what connected these two broken individuals together. Gravitating toward one another, but never fully clicked, for each of them belonged to a different set, which neither one was no longer possible to finish.

"Very well, if that's what you truly wish!" She blinked away the foggy sight and said in a stern voice. Even so, traces from her emotional state made it into the first few shaky syllables of her sentence.

"Thank you, Miko-sama." Niijima stood up and bowed in a rare show of respect. Going down on one knee, he hung his head low and waited for Kaguya. Kaguya inhaled in a resigned manner as she understood the significant of this gesture. This was an ancient ritual that the Miko-sama would give to all Kamikaze Warriors, those that would not be returning.

Reciting the prayer to the gods and deities above, Kaguya solemnly summoned her purification wand. She brushed the paper strips attached to the wand over Niijima's shoulders and head. Swishing it around, the sounds of paper rustling against one another was oddly calming. An aromatic scent waffled throughout the shrine ground, purifying all the tainted energy created when the malevolent spirit passed through.

In the soft embraced of the night, only Kaguya's silken voice could be heard as she recited chants after chants.

By the end of the ritual, a crest glowed briefly before settling over Niijima's back. It was the Clan's Moon Crest of Higanbana, or Spider Lily. The iconic crescent moon facing up with the spider lily blooming in the foreground was the Symbol for this established organization of Onmyouji and Miko.

As the last of the scent faded away, the ritual was completed. Standing back up, Niijima nodded a grateful smile to a somber Kaguya. It was at that moment that Niijima saw the Kaguya of legend—The Eternal Moon Princess—a being who was far older than even the clan itself. He often forgot due to the youthful appearance she often worn. Aged line settled over her beautiful face and she gave him a shaky smile, "Child, may your journey be fruitful."

It wasn't "May you return safely" or even "May you have a safe journey." It had been a wish for his choice to be worthwhile, a message that both adults in the room understood. Having said that, Kaguya stepped aside and allowed Niijima to approach the silver mirror, which seemed to glow even brighter under the full moonlight. He gingerly placed his hand over the cool reflective surface of the mirror.

With one last look to Kaguya, the woman who he had came to view as his sister, one last time.

"Sayonara, Kaguya."

"Sayonara, Kyousuke..."

Using the most serious phrasing, they both knew he wouldn't be coming back. She would have gone with him if she could, but she must stay here to pick things back up again. The Clan needed her leadership to recover from this attack. Heavy was the air upon his departure. Without much fanfare, the middle aged Onmyouji known as Niijima Kyousuke was gone for good in this world. With a wave of her hand, she stored the Mirror into her personal safe, waiting the day when she would reunite with her brother once more.

Time was a relative thing. After all, one, Time will loop around itself and similar event will occur, yet once more. Until then, she would wait. The next months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, it did not matter… Kaguya, the Eternal Moon Princess, shall wait patiently, as what she had always done and always will be.

\- o - o - o - o -

The trip was unpleasant to say the least. It was like a barrage of ever shifting rainbow and patterns akin to that of within the kaleidoscope. It gotten to the point that Niijima was forced to close his eyes unless he wanted to become disoriented by the fast moving object. Then suddenly, everything stopped. The sound of wind zipping by abruptly ceased to exist, only to be replaced by the feeling of waddling through viscous substances, as if he were swimming through syrup, heavy and thick.

Before he could become more familiarize with the feeling, it changed yet once more. For the longest time, Niijima didn't dare to open his eyes as he basked into the new feeling surrounding him. There was a gentle breeze, and in it, a faint trace of salt could be discerned. The soft crashing sounds of water beating against rock trickled into his ear drum and if he listened closely, he could faintly made out the voices of people. Deeming it safe enough, he carefully opened his eyes and was greeted by the vast blue of the sky and ocean, a picture of majestic grace and wonder that only the temperamental sea could give.

Sea gull chirped above the waves and Niijima knew, he had successfully crossed over the Gate.

"Hey, hey!" A young male voice called behind him excitedly.

Turning around, he was greeted by the sight of an orange haired girl, a straw hat wearing boy, and a green haired swordsman who had three swords attached to his hip.

"Can I help you?" Niijima carefully asked. He didn't know where he was and he couldn't risk making enemies out of every stranger he met.

"How did you do that?" The boy asked, his eagerness and excitement was obvious in his body language.

Niijima blinked. He honestly had no clue what this boy was talking about. "Pardon?"

"Appearing out of the blue like that," The girl answered in the boy's place.

Niijima mentally sighed at the unexpected out come. Of all the things that could happen, he wasn't expecting to have been spotted by a civilian of all things. Settling for a half truth response, he said, "I don't know, honestly," which was technically the truth since he didn't know any spell that could travel across dimensions.

"So it's a mysterious power!"

Contrary to the boy's smile, the girl and the swordsman each bore a skeptical look on their faces. Before they could voice their skepticism, however, the middle boy spoke again, "Hey, hey, do you have any meat?"

Taken aback by the non-sequitur question Niijima shot him an incredulous look. "...Why on earth would I have meat?"

Placing a hand over the boy's mouth, the girl sighed in an exasperated manner, "Please excuse his lack of tact."

That was how Niijima was introduced to Luffy and Zoro, the pirates, and Nami, the thief who was tagging along with the pirate. He was a little bit wary when they introduced themselves as Pirates. In his world, pirates were usually associated with murders, pillaging, and all sorts of negative actions. When he voiced his suspicion, he was satisfied when Luffy answered that he wouldn't do that. The young boy had only wanted to have a great adventure out on the open sea. Niijima had stared at him then to search for any traces of lies and malice. Finding none, Niijima's fear abated and the older male felt that he could be somewhat more open to them. Anyone with such a pure intention could not possibly be bad.

After the introduction had been over, the first question that Niijima had asked was if they had seen a situation similar to him, like random things just popping out of thin air. He was disappointed when he got a negative response. Quite frankly, he had absolutely no lead to his target. He didn't even know anything about this world! No matter how much he wanted to hunt that thing down and take back what was stolen, he couldn't even begin his mission until he had everything sort out. He could only pray that it wouldn't take him too much time to be prepared.

"I see," Niijima nodded when Nami told him was currently in the East Blue. Still quiet confused, Niijima asked for further elaboration.

His questions were met with many skeptical stares as well as incredulous. By the end of his questions, he was sure these young men and woman was wondering if he was stupid or something; what a depressing thought. He was lucky that these three individuals seemed pretty trust worthy. Otherwise, he would have been left even more in the dark.

"I'm sorry, but can I ask you guys for a favor?" Niijima hesitantly asked which immediately put both the swordsman and Nami on guard. He hadn't really wanted to ask this of these people he just met. At the moment, however, he simply had no choice.

"Depends," Zoro glanced sharply at Niijima.

"Well, according to this young miss here, this is an uninhabited island. I was wondering if I could possibly travel with you to the next island. I am quiet lost at the moment, as you can see." Niijima shrugged. He wasn't well versed in sailing, and in such a world where the ocean dominates the geography, he would be a fool to sail out on his own. At the very least, he would need to learn more about the sea at a town of some sort. It was just his luck that he landed on this uninhabited island.

"Oh, is that all!" Luffy answered with an energetic nod. "Sure!"

"Luffy!" Both Zoro and Nami shouted at the captain. Whether it was out of anger or exasperation, Niijima couldn't tell.

"How could you let a stranger like him board our ship? What if he's a threat?"

"Huh, what? It's fine right?" Turning to Niijima, Luffy asked, "Hey, you aren't going to attack my crew right?"

"Unless you give me a reason to, then no."

"See, all's good." Luffy beamed when his two companions sighed again.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Nami seemed really annoyed at Luffy. Even though Luffy had agreed for the lift, there was simply no way Niijima would fit in his small boat, which was already occupied by Zoro and himself. That left Nami's sailing boat and the girl had grudgingly allowed him to board it.

"I'm watching you, so you better not do anything stupid." She warned and ran her hands over her folding staff threatening. Her eyes trail a little bit over his attire. She must have seen something for she calmed down a little bit.

Raising his hands, Niijima said in a placating manner, "Ok, ok. I won't do anything stupid. You can drop me off at the next island and we won't ever have to see each other again."

Shooting him another sting eyes look, Nami wandered off as she checked her map and compass. Watching her navigate through the ocean was mesmerizing to Niijima, who had never sailed before. There was simply no need to when his world has been predominantly land and mountain. He could tell, from the girl's smooth movement that she was an expert in navigation. He turned his attention away from her before she could accuse him of perverting on her.

He gave a curious glance to the snoring swordsman and his three katanas. However he looked, he simply could not imagine a style that involved using all three swords. Perhaps he carried an extra sword as replacement? Either way, it was simply fascinating to learn about all the different things this world had to offer.

Perhaps out of the whole lot, Luffy was the most enigmatic. His simplicity and cheerful personality was like a ray of sunshine in comparison to Niijima's old world, where personality likes that had long since extinct. One simply could not survive acting so carefree like that. Watching him had been amusing to say the least. The young teen would often groan about being hungry and wanting meat.

It was a pleasant experience for him but a quick reminder of his goal brought him back to reality. There was a purpose in coming here and that was to retrieve an important piece of memory. He could never allow the like of that cursed thing to tarnish the last remnant of a noble person, a reminder that he had existed once and that he hadn't been forgotten. It was a symbol of things long passed, yet even so, to a selected few, it was as if the event had just happened yesterday, forever fresh in their mind. He might be a fool for clinging to such thing, even to the point of leaving his home world permanently. Even so, the Crown was his treasure. He needed to get it back, no matter the cost.

Little by little, before he knew it, they had already approached land. Stepping foot onto the rocky and sandy terrain, he marveled at the great cliff that stood at each side of the island, leading only a small slope as an entrance into the deeper part of the land. From what he had deduced from Nami's guidance, this must be the road toward the town's center. Otherwise, the road wouldn't have looked so neat and used.

"Stop right there, pirate! You are in presence of my eight million men! Leave now and I'll spare your lives!" A teenage voice boomed throughout the clearing, startling Niijima from his thought. Perhaps he really should have been paying attention in unknown land. It simply wouldn't do to die before he could even accomplish what he came here for.

Warily, he watched as Nami quickly called the voice out for his lies. To his surprise, the voice in question actually let it slipped that he was lying! Niijima couldn't help but shake his head at the person's antics. Regardless, he had a purpose in finding civilization and he wouldn't let these people stop him.

"Hey, I'm not a pirate so can I just go?" Niijima called, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Oh, really? You're not a pirate- Like hell I would believe that!" For a moment, the voice seemed to believe Niijima, but snorted. A bullet quickly made its way toward Niijima, who leaned to the side to dodge the projectile. With a sound, the round ball lodge itself into the sand next to his feet.

Seeing the rudimentary bullet, Niijima added that little piece of information into his mind. From what he observed, this World seemed to be stuck in the 1500s to 1600s, where pirates roam the sea. The type of bullet used spoke much about the World's technology. Although he had no idea how wrong he was with his conclusion. It wasn't until later on that he discover that this world was more than he imagined, filled with adventure, fantasy and thrills.

"Now, don't be hasty," Niijima said.

Seeing the attack, Luffy decided to intervene. "Do you have the gut to follow through with that?" His questions raised several eyebrows, Niijima, more so than the other.

The person of interest seemed to pause at the question, confused. "What?"

"This isn't a game, you know. Since you have drawn your weapons, are you willing to put your lives on the line?" Luffy stated with a serious face, surprising Niijima. The older man didn't know that such a carefree child like Luffy would already have such a deep understanding of the burden of arm.

Niijima's jaw slackened when the liar, who later introduced himself as Usopp, lost all trace of fighting spirit. "Wow, real pirates are so cool!" Niijima simply couldn't understand the logic behind Usopp's mind. If one was threatened by real pirates, one simply wouldn't surrender like that!

With that said, he really had no purpose in staying here. Nodding his thanks to Nami for getting him to land, he left the quartet. His first objective was to find an inn. If what he remembered correctly in history book, the local inn and pub will hold the most information. At the same time, he would also find a way to earn money. It simply wouldn't do if he had nothing to work with!

Aimlessly wandering around, it didn't take him long to spot the village's local gathering area. Pushing open the wooden flapping door, he discreetly entered the building. It was still early in the day, so it was expected that not that many people would be drinking just yet. Bar the few local patrons chatting about everyday life, the pub look to be as ordinary as it could get.

"Welcome!" A woman greeted him from behind the counter. "Are you new here?" He wasn't expecting a frown from her.

"Yea." Niijima answered, putting on a confused look. If he was going to make this work, he would need to make himself looked as lost and innocent as possible. If could play the sympathy card right, he would be able to gain information for free.

"That's great. We don't get that many new visitors here." She smiled, but was still wary of him. "What can I get you today?"

Acting sheepish, he cleared his throat as he approached the woman, "Ah well, you see, I'm a little bit disoriented from the recent experience." He gestured to his head with a wave of his hand. "I seem to have lost quite a bit of my memory. I was hoping that I would be able to get some general information on this island, you see..." He gave her a hopeful looked while pasting on the most sympathetic expression he could make.

It seemed to have work when the woman gasped, using her hand to cover her mouth. "Oh, you poor thing. You were very lucky to have escaped those pirates then, especially when you are injured like that." She exclaimed and all trace of wariness left her.

Niijima blinked, not understanding what she meant by injured. Though to the onlooker, he must have looked so lost and confused. Tracing the woman's eyes line, he arrived at his own blood soaked shirt. He must have gotten it when he cradled the dying girl in his arms back then. Nami's response back then suddenly came back to him and he suddenly understood why she had reacted that way. She must have thought he was injured and therefore she would be able to take him on in his injured states. Well, he wasn't about to blow his cover now.

"Don't worry, if it's information you want, I'll do my best to help you. It's the morning anyway, so there won't be any guests until later on."

And just like that, Niijima was able to gain the much needed information. Apparently, this world's geography was a lot more complicated than he thought. The Four Blues and the Grand Line was the most interesting of all. Expressing his thanks, he shot her a charming smile.

"Thanks. That would really help me a lot."

"Oh, don't mention it. Just glad I could help, that's all." She laughed then frowned, "although, I would suggest you to go see a doctor. You'll never know what other injuries you might have."

"I'll keep that in mind, but say, has anything strange been happening lately?"

"Well, not that I am aware of. Although, that mansion on top of the hills had been pretty strange lately. That poor girl," Shaking her head, the inn owner sighed. "She hadn't quiet been the same ever since her parents passed away..."

Remaining silent, Niijima waited patiently for her to continue. "Nowadays, she just seemed so sickly." Leaning back against the chair, the woman cast a downward gaze, "Kaya-chan was such a sweet girl all those years ago..."

"Perhaps she was just too emotionally stressed out? Depressed, even." Niijima helpfully interjected, rousing her from her memory trip.

"Yea, maybe you're right, but she hadn't been getting better. I swear that of those rare times I saw her, she was getting paler and paler everyday..." She sighed again and got up from her seat.

"I see," Niijima nodded, a theory already forming up in his head. "Aside from that, is there a local place where people gather for religious practice?"

It took the owner a while as she tried to think of any local place. With a negative shake of her head, she said, "I don't think so. The local aren't that big on religious practices, you see—Oh, Welcome!" She called to a new set of guests.

Taking that as the signal, Niijima muttered his thanks and quietly slipped away from the pub. Just to make the act more convincing, he made sure to ask for the direction of the town's doctor before leaving when in fact, his next target was the hill on the mansion. From what little he glimpsed, this Kaya-chan could potentially help him out with his financial problem, but first, he would need to confirm something. To do that, he would need to physically go visit the girl.

Following the road up the hill, he arrived just in time to see Luffy launching himself over the gate. He blinked in shock as his mind took a moment to catch up to him.

"What the hell was that?" When it finally did, he couldn't help but exclaimed, drawing the trio's attention to himself.

"Ah, ossan!"

"What are you doing here?" Zoro asked.

"Never mind that, what the hell was that? How did he stretch his arms like that? Alteration Spell? Youkai's Bloodline?"

"What in the world are you sprouting nonsense about?" Nami shot him a look as if he was crazy, which he scowled in response.

"That was a perfectly valid question, girl."

"Ah, I ate a Devil Fruit." Luffy laughed, as if that explained everything, and perhaps it did if Niijima was a native of this World. As it stands, the term just went over his head.

"Devil Fruit? Is this some kind of terminology to describe the power of the Devil?"

"You really have no clue; do you…"Nami sighed. "Well, not surprised there. The East Blue is the weakest blue of all, after all. But we can wonder about that later, let's actually get into the mansion first before the guards come!" She snapped and motioned for Luffy to open the gate. "Hurry!"

"We'll continue this later but, yes. Do open the gate, won't you?" Niijima shot her a look and shifted his gaze to Luffy, who grinned and swung open the gate.

It was a wonder that they were able to get into the mansion without alerting any guards, although this was not what Niijima was expecting when he said he would be investigating the mansion. He was caught up in the moment and went along with their antics when he could have just asked politely at the front door. But then again, that probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. What kind of security guard would let a bloodied man enter their mansion? He grimaced when he thought about the state of his shirt. As soon as he got enough money, he would need to switch out his wardrobe for something more clean and crisp. He always fancied himself to dress nicely. After all, it's the clothes that made the man. What kind of man would he be if his clothes were sloppily worn?

Either way, before he knew it, he was already following the teenagers and three boys, who he had just noticed. They had some of the most interesting names ever, which he won't judge—Pepper, Carrot, and Onion. Even so, it did make him a little bit hungry. Speaking of which, he seriously needed to find himself something to eat.

Finally arriving at the target of interest, one glance at the sickly girl and it confirmed his suspicion. However, he didn't voice anything in favor of letting the younger generation do their stuff, whatever it may be. Usopp was telling Kaya about his recent "adventures", if one could put it like that, until the typical evil butler showed up. It didn't take a genius to know that the butler, Klahadore hated Usopp, especially with the way he treated the boy. Klahadore was also pretty prejudiced against pirates too, apparently.

Having been on this world for only half a day, Niijima didn't know enough about the local pirates to make a logical conclusion, but he felt that labeling them all as bad without at least trying to see things from their point of view was pretty narrow minded. He made a decision not to approach Kaya as long as Klahadore was present. Such a narrow minded person wouldn't let him talk to Kaya before kicking him out of the house and that would have been bad for his plan.

Discretely, he blended into the background as he murmured a spell softly beneath his breath. Drawing the power of Yin, he cloaked himself in the shadow of the nearby of foliage. To the untrained eyes, they wouldn't even know he had disappeared until it was too late. To other Onmyouji or Miko, however, they would have easily broken the enclosed barrier and drew him out of that enclosed space.

The idea of the spell was to create an Enclosed Space that temporary removed his presence from the current plane into a different plane using the natural object. Using shadow as a medium to reinforce the concept of Enclosed Space, he would mask his presence and enter the plan that the shadow existed in.

It was there that he silently waited until the whole fiasco with Usopp and Klahadore subsided. It ended with Usopp leaving the courtyard in an angry manner, but not before he threw a heavy punch to the butler's face. After all, even Niijima would have done that when a stranger suddenly insult his family like that. If it were him, Klahadore would have been curse to oblivion before he could even utter the second sentence! Before long, the remaining group of teenagers and kids left the mansion compound, but not before Luffy voiced his question.

"Ah? Where's the ossan?"

Niijima had to give it to Luffy for being so attentive, especially to a stranger like him.

"Oh who cares about him, let's just go." Nami sighed and dragged Luffy away.

Giving an angry huff, Klahadore nursed his bruised cheek and quietly excused himself, leaving behind a distraught looking Kaya, who sat by the windowsill for a little bit longer. She gazed at the direction Usopp left a moment ago. Face filled with sorrow and guilt, she sighed.

"You shouldn't sigh too much, you know. You'll sigh the luck away from you." Niijima spoke up when he was sure Klahadore was no longer presence. He had seen enough of the young girl to have arrived at a definite conclusion. She was being haunted.

"Ah!" Kaya gave a startle squeaked from Niijima's baritone voice. "Oh, sorry, you surprised me. Weren't you with Usopp-kun earlier?"

Niijima nodded in affirmation. "Yea. I stayed behind because I want to privately talk to you about something." He answered her unasked question.

"Oh, what can I help you then?" Despite the sickly physique, Kaya responded with the poise of a typical young lady, elegant and beautiful.

"Do you believe in the supernatural?" Niijima posed the question and watched as Kaya tilted her head.

"Do you mean like ghosts and spirits?"

"Yes."

"Well, I was never a believer in the supernatural, but I do believe in spirits…" She coughed and trailed off as she gazed longingly into the garden. No doubt, she was reminiscing about her dead parents.

"Good, then this will make things easier for me," Niijima nodded and rummage around his breast pocket. Before he could voice anything, however, that cursed Klahadore was back.

"I thought I told you to get out of here!" He snarled at Niijima, who shot him an unimpressed look.

Kaya, who was focusing her attention on Niijima earlier, immediately shifted her focus to Klahadore. Niijima knew then that he wouldn't be able to get what he wanted if he pressed on—not when Klahadore was here. He would have to come back another time, he supposed.

\- o - o - o - o -

The next time Niijima saw her, she was worse than wear. One lonely girl running through the forest with three kids in tow, it was like Snow White and the seven dwarves, except, it was three this time. He was just meditating inside the forest when the rustling sound of foliage and people stomping around reached his ear. He had wanted to use this down time to do some basic divination and get the general feel of the local nature spirits. Sometimes, the answer he sought may not be available in the physical realm. He would need to extend it to the spiritual realm as well; maybe these local spirits would have some lead on his elusive target.

Of course, all of that was to moot when Kaya violently stumbled, quite literally, in front of him.

"Kaya-san?"

"Ah! Ojisan. You have to leave immediately! It's dangerous here." She coughed violently and her face quickly reddened from the lack of air. She brought her hand to her chest, as if trying to stabilize her heart, and gasped when it failed to alleviate the pain.

"Kaya-san! Hang in there!" Carrot shouted.

"All of you, leave…" Struggling to breathe, she forcefully said, "me..."

"No, we can't!"

"We need to protect her!"

"But he's coming!" One after another, the kids argued among one another as they shakily held onto their weapons.

"What is going on here?" Niijima asked in a no-nonsense voice as he helped the unsteady Kaya back on her feet.

"Ojisan, there's this Jango guy that's trying to kill us; you need to leave here too! The Usopp Pirate will hold them back for you!" Pepper bravely said, even though there was snot and tears running down his face. His legs were wobbly and the bat in his hand was shivering from fear.

Niijima glanced at the three tearful kids and the sickly Kaya then smiled reassuringly. They just reminded him so much of his own children that he didn't need to be told to protect them.

"I see. Don't worry, everything will be fine." Giving the closest kid, Pepper, a warm rustle, he confidently strode toward the direction they had all came from.

With his back to them, his serious expression went unseen by those present.

"W-what? Ojisan! It's dangerous!"

Before he could response, a man with heart shaped glasses and purple cloak stepped into view. He seemed surprised by Niijima's presence. "Oh, an extra? But no matter, I'll just kill you all and have Kaya-chan write that will!" He smirked and took out his spinning blade.

One look at the weapon and the way the enemy held it and Niijima knew that it would be used like a boomerang.

"No one will be dying today, you excluded, of course" Niijima calmly stated. His behavior was soothing to the cowering kids behind him.

"Ha, what can an injured man like you do?"

Niijima didn't answer. There was no point in talking when fight had already begun the moment this Jango character stepped into his visible view.

"The question should be, what can an injured man not do?" He smiled enigmatically, which was cut short when two flying blades cleaved cleanly through him.

"Ha, nothing, when you are already dead." Jango sneered. He didn't get to finish that statement when the dead bother of Niijima exploded into a cloud of paper, which immediately morphed into sharp blades, each pointing their tips at Jango.

One second later, all of them were heading straight toward the shocked hypnotist. Amidst the flurry of swords and daggers, Niijima voice reverberated throughout the clearing.

"You really shouldn't underestimate your opponent," He chided.

No matter how skilled Jango was, under the onslaught of raining steels, he was quick to succumb from the relentless attack.

"Curse Art: Dream of Swords," He announced his move when Jango was down for good.

In the eyes of the kids and Kaya, it was one of the oddest things they have ever seen. One moment Jango was throwing his flying blades—toward thin air, might they added—the next moment he was down. All the meanwhile, Niijima just smiled enigmatically as he chanted softly beneath his breath.

Dream of Swords, as the name implied, was an illusion spell was triggered when the enemy attacked the illusion version of the caster. It can easily be countered if the attacker was skillful enough to avoid the entire incoming blade or they did not attack the illusion. Once the blade touched the enemy, he had a brief moment to recite a counter curse. Otherwise, he would be put into a sleep where his body felt as if it were being pierced by thousands of needles. It was a devious spell that targeted the mind directly and required the target to drop their guard for the spell to hold. Otherwise, Niijima wouldn't have enough time to set up a talisman copied of him.

Moment later, Usopp and Zoro came into view. They were surprised at first to see the down Jango, they were even more wary when they saw Niijima was with Kaya and the kids.

"Kaya! Are you alright?" Usopp, ignoring Niijima completely as he rushed over to

"Y-yea, Usopp-kun. I'm so sorry for doubting you." She cried.

\- o - o - o - o -

One thing came and went like a blur; so much that Niijima never had the opportunity to do what he had wanted to do. As for Jango, Niijima had dispelled the Curse on the poor man and turned him over to the local law enforcer.

Currently, he was sitting with Luffy and his crew at a local restaurant, enjoying their meal. For Niijima, it would be his first real meal since setting foot into this village! He had been surviving on wild berries and fruits the whole time yesterday.

"Ah, so that's what happened." Niijima nodded after hearing the whole story from Nami, who seemed to be the most sensible one out of the four of them. After all, who on earth would eat the whole fish, including its bone! While there are type of fish that could be eaten whole when cooked right, Niijima was sure that the fish they were eating was not that kind.

From Nami, he learned that Klahadore, who was actually Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirate, was the mastermind behind this whole pirate invasion fiasco.

"Well, can't say I was surprised," Niijima nodded. He had known all along that Kuro was not to be trusted.

"How come?" Nami asked, an interested gleam flashed over her eyes.

His respond got Zoro's attention, as the swordsman lightly inclined his head toward Niijima, who shrugged. He didn't feel like explaining things. Although, speaking of which, he really should see Kaya. He had put things off for long enough anyway.

Speaking of the lady, Kaya showed up at the place looking slightly paler than yesterday. Even so, it did nothing to mar the fighting spirit the young woman had on her face. She smiled radiantly at the group and told Luffy that she had a surprise for him. Like Christmas came early, the teen's eyes lit up in excitement at the mention of surprise.

Niijima internally sighed. It was like the whole world was out to get him. He couldn't interrupt in this kind of mood at all! Before he knew it, they had all arrived at the shore, where a caravel with a sheep figurehead greeted them all. He had only followed them because he wanted to speak with Kaya. He was not expecting this. The ship was gorgeous and Niijima was honored to have seen it with his own eyes.

While Merry, Kaya's other butler was explaining things to Nami, Niijima felt like he could finally have the time to talk with Kaya.

"Kaya-san, there's an important issue I must discuss with you."

"Ah, Niijima-san, what is it?" She had gotten his name when he told her during their trip here.

"This is regarding your condition-"

"Oh, Niijima-san, please don't worry about me. The doctor said I should be getting better soon!"

Putting his hand up, Niijima fixed her with a stern gaze. "No, Kaya-san. You will never get better, only worse, as long as you don't realize it!" There was a slight sign of frustration in his voice.

His solemn expression completely threw Kaya off the loop. Stepping back, the young lady glanced unsure, and a little bit fearful, at Niijima. His outburst was heard by all that was present, including Usopp, who had just made his way down toward the caravel with his giant backpack.

"Hey, don't speak to Kaya like that!" Usopp shouted in anger but Niijima ignored him.

"Shortness of breath, sudden chill, problem sleeping, random fatigue that felt as if your entire life force was slowly being drained from you," Niijima began to list off all the symptoms.

With each word, Kaya felt her heart drop to her stomach. No one had known of that last symptom, which had only started to show recently. How would someone like Niijima, who had never met her before, know? Of all the medical books she had studied about, she hadn't found one that described her condition so perfectly. She had felt fatigue before, but her recent bout has been exactly as Niijima described.

"W-what are you talking about?" Usopp and Merry glanced warily at him.

"H-how?"

"Am I right?" Niijima pressed, receiving a nod from Kaya.

"What is your latest symptom now? Is it this unexplainable coldness that emanate from your heart, even when you are in a well heated room."

The young lady was once again stunned, but hesitantly nodded.

Letting out a quiet curse, Niijima scowled, "You wouldn't even live past this week at this rate…" All around him, everyone showed a various degree of shock and horror.

Very calmly, the young lady gathered her composure and shakily asked, "It had just occurred last night… do you know anything about my condition, Doctor?"

"Yes, and I am not a doctor. There's no time to explain, but take me to your mansion now. It's time I have a words with those that shouldn't be there," Niijima said.

The urgency in his voice compelled her to follow his leads. One by one the bystanders curiously followed the duo. When they finally arrived, Kaya had another bout as she collapsed again. Clutching her chests, she gasped for breath, prompting Niijima to act.

Rummaging around his breast pocket, Niijima produced a small yellow silken bag that was pressed into a thin rectangular shape. There is a knot tied in red string over the opening of the bag and a strange calligraphy mark stamped over the center of the bag.

"Hold onto this." He said and stuffed it into Kaya's hand. The effect was immediate as she gasped in a mouthful of air. That oppressed feeling was gone the moment she held onto the bag.

"What's that?" Luffy asked, voicing everyone's curiosity.

"It's an omamori, or amulet." Niijima explained, "It can ward off spirits."

"But what does spirit have to do with this?" The question was ignored.

Wordlessly, they made their way into the mansion. The moment they stepped into the main entrance room, Niijima halted, stopping those behind him as they glanced curiously at him. His fixated onto a particular spot just slightly beneath the two flight of stairs leading up into the second story of the building.

"Greeting to you as well, milady, kind sir," Niijima lightly bowed toward thin air.

Behind him, the rest of the group looked at one another with raised eyebrows.

"Pardon my rudeness, but I believe it is time for you to leave," Niijima said solemnly. A gust of wind was his only response. By now, it was clear to the others that Niijima was talking to something that only he could see.

"I don't mean to offend you in your home, but the Law does not permit such kind of behavior." Niijima said tightly.

"Who is he talking to?" Usopp whispered and Nami shushed him.

"Now's not the time!" She snapped. Her eyes never left the figure of Niijima and the empty spot he was staring at.

A stronger gust of wind this time that seemed to affect only Niijima, who was pushed back despite having guarded against the wind. It only get worse the more Niijima tried to reason with them. With every gust of wind, Kaya seemed to get even paler and the amulet in her hand had grown hotter. She yelped lightly but her gut instinct was telling to hold onto it. Something unfortunate would happen if she were to let it go. Noticing Kaya's worsening condition, the middle aged man could not stand it anymore.

"Snap out of it, do you seriously want to kill your daughter!?" Niijima roared and a torrent of talisman flew out from his sleeves, forming into intricate pattern in the air. They aligned themselves like a box that encompassed Niijima and the space in front of him.

Softly, it was like sunlight streaming through a sea of crystal, two specters glimmered into view inside that box. Their ethereal look made it blatantly clear that they were not human. The male was dressed in an expensive suit and ties while the woman wore an elegant white sundress. Her golden lock was tied in a loose bun.

It took Kaya a moment to realize who they were. They had seemed oddly familiar but it couldn't possibly be what Kaya was thinking. After all, the Madame and Master of the House were dead. Despite that, she couldn't help but murmured, "Father, Mother?"

She glanced at Merry for support, who looked equally shaken as her.

Her voice was soft, but it was enough to be heard by the spirits.

"Kaya-chan, my daughter." The woman said, voice filled with so much warmth and emotion that was akin to the welcoming hearth of a loving family.

And, like a dam that was broken, tear flows freely down Kaya and Merry's cheek. "Mother?" She choked. Still couldn't quiet believe her eyes.

Usopp and Nami, on the other hand, were holding onto each others as they realize the implication behind Kaya's words.

"G-Ghost!" They shakily pointed at Kaya's parents.

While Zoro had a hard expression on his face, Luffy just nonchalantly watched the whole thing; though, he did have a serious expression settled over his gaze.

"I don't mean to interrupt your heartwarming reunion, but you really shouldn't have stayed. You are unconsciously hurting your daughter."

"What do you mean?" Kaya's father snapped back, affronted at the accusation.

"You are sapping your daughter's life force the longer you stay here! Haven't you realized that already?"

Seemed to be taken aback, the ghostly couple shared a disbelieve glance at one another. "Dear, have we really been..." Her mother trailed off. The question was a clear indication that they truly had not known of the effect they had on their daughter.

"In order for a Yin oriented beings like you to remain on this world, you need to find balance. Unconsciously, you have been leeching off the Yang from your daughter's life force just so you could remain in balance, but in doing so, Kaya-san's life become unbalanced. Living being cannot be lacking in Yang just as Spirits cannot be lacking in Yin. Eventually, your daughter will turn into a Yin-oriented spirit. Is that truly what you want?" Niijima's voice soften somewhat as he gazed at them sadly.

With each words from his mouth, the bystanders and the relevant people looked visibly sick. Her parents, especially, who looked more hurt than shocked. They would have never thought that they were killing their own daughter unintentionally.

"We just want to stay with her for a while longer…" Her mother sadly said. "But in no way we would have thought…"

"Father, mother!" Kaya sniffed.

"Will you be alright, Kaya?" Her father softly asked; concern was evident in his voice. "We weren't even able to say our last words to one another…"

They drifted closer to Kaya and Niijima tactfully stepped away, allowing them to have their moment. As they drawn closer, Kaya could not help but sobbed openly as she stared at the familiar face of her parents. It had been some time since their death, but they were just as she remembered them by, kind and loving. Even the age line and the perfumes that her mother used when she was alive, everything was calling out to her. She remembered the happy memory they shared, the sadness, and all the hardship they had went through. Finding out that her parents had been too worry for her to the point that they chose to haunt the house rather than moving on was very emotional for her. She decided then, that she wouldn't let them worry anymore. Wiping away the tears, Kaya steeled her resolve.

"I will be alright, father, mother." Kaya sniffled when her parents' ghostly hand reached for her. However, just as they were about to hug her, a shimmering shield burst into view and prevented them from touching her.

Both Kaya and her parents drew back in shock at the development. Kaya gave the omamori she held in her hand a contemplating look. Eyes hardening in determination, she dropped the omamori and watched as the shield dissipated. Unfortunately, her decision came with a price. The moment the shield was gone, she immediately broke into a coughing fit, courtesy of the source of her illness being so close to her.

"Kaya!" Both her parents shouted in alarm, but made no move to touch her. If they weren't convinced before, they were now when the result was so obvious to them.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Niijima murmured, "I'm gonna regret this..."

Everyone snapped their heads to him when they heard him. Watching Niijima pulled out another talisman, the majority of the onlookers were intrigued when it morph into a rope.

"Hold onto this, you two." He said and threw the rope to Kaya's parents, who looked torn between concern and curiosity—concern for their daughter and curious for Niijima. In the end, when something was flying at you, it was instinctive to catch it.

The purpose was unclear, but the moment they caught the rope, their whole body seemed to gain a fleshy appearance, more solid and physical. They no longer looked like they were ghost and if one were to give a quick glance, they wouldn't be able to tell that those two were not human.

"T-this is?"

"It's a temporary solution, but I'm lending you my energy currently, which I really shouldn't be doing in the first place." Niijima said through gritted teeth. The drain was visible on his face. "What are you waiting for? Go give her a hug or something!" He scowled when they just stood there idly.

The reunion was short and bittersweet. It turned out that their death was not an accident and Kuro was heavily involved in it. Kaya was visibly angered when she heard that part but she held back herself in favor of her parents. It was not that often that one would get to speak with their dead family member. The ghost couple was relieved when they heard that Kuro had been apprehended for his crime. With the threat to their daughter's life out of the way, it was easier to convince them to move on.

"Merry," Her dad called and the butler stood straighter at attention.

"Yes, sir!"

"Take care of Kaya, won't you?"

Merry swallowed the lump in his throat and with teary eyes, he answered, "Y-yes, sir. I will protect her with my life!"

Satisfied with the answers, they turned to Niijima and gave him a nod. "Thank you, exorcist, we would have made a grave mistake if not for your intervention."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I can't really hold on any longer," He said and pulled out another talisman. "May I have the honor of guiding you?" He offered and the couple nodded.

With a soft chant, Niijima recited the usual prayer and threw the talisman up. The moment he did that, all the windows in that room suddenly snapped open as a huge gust of wind waffled throughout the entire building. When the gust subsided, the spirits were no longer visible for they had gone with the wind.

\- o - o - o - o -

When things calmed down enough, Niijima was bombarded with question one after another. He smiled placating but never really paid them much attention. Currently he had some business left with Kaya.

"Kaya-san, this may be unreasonable, but I have a request."

"If this is about marrying her as payment, then I will have to strike you down," Merry warned hastily.

"What? No!" Niijima scowled. "I just want to ask her for a small boat or ship."

"Oh," Merry blinked and the rest of the people in the room shouted in surprise. "Eh!?"

"What? Is it really that surprising? I'm looking for someone and the only way to even start my search is traveling. In this kind of sea, of course I would need some mode of transportation!"

Kaya glanced unsurely at Merry and said, "Well, Niijima-san, it's not that we don't want to help, but our only available ship at the moment was given to Luffy-san. We aren't sure when we would be able to build you a new one."

"No offense, Niijima-san," Nami interjected, "but do you even know how to sail?"

Niijima sweated and looked away, not meeting Nami's gaze. "Well, I'll learn along the way…"

Kaya looked skeptically at the man who cured her condition. "Niijima-san, with the utmost respect, I cannot give you a ship when you cannot sail and operate it yourself. I cannot, under good conscience, allow you to sail to your death like that."

Niijima furrowed his eyebrows in frustration and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "I won't die that easily."

"Even so, I am sorry. I cannot help you."

Niijima growled in frustration. "I see. Then excuse me, I'll take my leave then." He curtly walked away in anger. It was more for being underestimated rather than being denied his payment. He had truly wanted to help the young girl recover and wouldn't blame her if she refused to give him a ship. After all, they hadn't really form an agreement before he helped her. Besides, if he hadn't care, he wouldn't have went out of his way to share a portion of his energy with the ghosts.

"With them gone, you should be recovering now. You can keep the omamori." With that said, he never looked back as he exited the building.

\- o - o - o - o -

He stared at the cloud a little bit as he sat by the cliff where Luffy dropped him off. Mind wandering off, he sighed when it seemed like everything was a dead end for him. The boats that they came with was destroyed during the skirmish, from what Nami told him during their breakfast earlier. Otherwise, he would have asked to borrow theirs. Mind making up, it seemed like he would need to bother the Straw Hat Pirate again. He could only hope that they hadn't left yet and that they wouldn't mind him tagging along, at least to their next stop anyway.

He sped down the road to the other side of the island, where the caravel was docked. He breathed in relief when the ship was still there. Luffy and co was just lazing about, as if they were waiting for someone.

"Ah! Ossan!" Luffy's eyes lit up when Niijima neared their ship.

"Luffy-san, I'm glad you haven't left yet. Say, can I tag along to your next island?"

"Nope!" The boy crossed his arms and made an X sign.

"Oh…" Niijima sighed in disappointment. "It can't be help then. You have a good trip!"

"You are looking for someone right?" Luffy continued when Niijima dejectedly walked away.

Halting in his step, Niijima tilted his head questionably at Luffy. "So if that person is not in the next island, you'll also go to the next right?"

"Yes, that's the most logical conclusion," Niijima nodded, not seeing where Luffy was going with this.

"Then you won't be tagging along just until the next island! You'll be tagging along until you'll find that person right!?"

Niijima hesitantly nodded. "Yes?"

"Join my crew!" Luffy laughed. "Come and travel with us!"

"You do know that I will need to leave eventually when my goal requires me to."

"That's fine. Like I said, I won't get in the way of your dream!"

Niijima smiled gratefully, "I will be in your care then, Captain." He gave Luffy a nod.

"Shishishi, you are a good guy, ossan," Luffy laughed and lowered the plank.

As he boarded the ship, Zoro shot him a smirk while Nami shook her head in amusement at Luffy's decision. Usopp, on the other hand, just warily stared at him.

"H-hey, you aren't going to be summoning spirits now and stuff right?" He carefully asked while keeping his distant.

"Of course not, Usopp-kun, maybe _only_ when you are sleeping." Niijima teased.

"Oi, oi. I can't tell if you are joking or not, Niijima-san…"

Chuckling softly, Niijima shook his head. The long nosed boy just reminded him so much of one of his student that he couldn't help but joked. Both of them were pretty scared of spirits too. However, his student had been able to shed that fear. Given time, he was sure Usopp would be fine too. After all, spirits and the supernatural were only scary if one did not have the mean to combat against them.

Standing by the railing, Niijima stared out at the sea as the ship slowly took off. For some reason, it was as if everything was predetermined. From him meeting up with Luffy to him joining the teen, Niijima wasn't able to run away no matter how much he tried. He had a feeling that this trip would be very worthwhile.

Soft footsteps reached his ears. It was too light to belong to any of the male members of the crew. "He waited for you, you know." Nami said.

Niijima turned toward her with a raised eyebrow.

"He wouldn't leave when we had wanted to. He said, and I quote 'Let's wait for him. The ossan will come!'" Nami mimicked. "Although, how he knew you would come was beyond me."

Niijima inclined his head in acknowledgment. "I see. I am in debt to him then."

"Hey! Ossan, Nami!" Luffy called from the head of the ship.

"Yea, Captain!?" Niijima hollered back and pushed himself off of the railing. Strutting, away from Nami, he gave her a pat on the shoulder, "Thanks for telling me, Nami-kun."

With that, the adventurer of Niijima had officially begun. He could only hope the rest of the journey would be as fortunate as this encounter. If he hadn't met Luffy, he was sure he wouldn't be able to procure a ride so quick and with his situation, the sooner he set out, the higher the odd was for him. With every day passed without doing anything, he risked having the malicious entity gaining more distant.

\- o - o - o - o -

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own anything aside from my OC. One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

\- o – o – o – o -

It was a nice morning atop of the Merry-go. The warmth of the sun was a contrast to the cool of the ocean breeze. It has been a few days since Niijima boarded the ship and joined Luffy's crew. In these past few days, he had been searching nonstop for any traces of miasma.

Sitting in a darken room of what appeared to be the man's bunk room, with only the sound of crashing waves to accompany him, Niijima held a small basin of water in hands. Stationed in four corners that made up an invisible square were candles that basked the room in an orange glow. He sat in the center of said square, eyes focusing on the water. Despite the gentle rocking atop the ship, the water in the basin was oddly serene. Like a mirror, it showed the perfect reflection of Niijima, who gazed into the water as if waiting for something.

Then, as if the timing was right, he set the basin down and reached for a small circular mirror. Giving it one annoyed look, Niijima couldn't help but remember the deal he had with Nami. He now owe the devil a thousand Beli—with interest—for the usage of this mirror. If he hadn't needed the item so much, he wouldn't have agreed to it. After all, her smile had been too sweet for his liking and he knew better than to make deals with people like her.

Sighing, what was done cannot be undone. He gently lay the mirror on top of the water. Instead of sinking, the steel mirror floated on the surface like a lotus blooming atop of a lake. With a soft chant, power seemed to infused into the very air of the room.

He peered into the glowing water and with the softest touch of his finger, a clear bell-like sound fanned out from the mirror. It began to rotate in a slow manner and Niijima eyes grew vacant, as if he was seeing something no one else could see.

His hand waved across the surface of the water and the wind follow afterward. It was as if he was waving through a screen of haze. Every movement left behind trails of white smoke that quickly sank into the water, where it dissolved like ink. The swirly white substances condensed and began to take shape.

A bird. No. Not a bird. A Hawk, stood for bravery, fierce, and sharp.

Another wave of his hand and the shape in the water transformed yet again. A fish. No, that wasn't it. A Shark, stood for persistence, danger, and power.

"What do these symbols mean?" Niijima murmured. He moved his hand once more and sweat began to accumulate over his forehead. His movement seemed more sluggish now, as if struggling to cut through the smoke. Slower this time, the smoke dripped slowly into the murky water and as abruptly as it was, the white smoke disperses, refusing to coagulate into shape.

He scowled into the air and swept his hand aside, dismissing all the smoke trailing around him. Only the murky water in the basin remain as the mirror sank to the bottom.

Divination often gave cryptic answers that wouldn't really make sense until it was already too late. The Art was never his strong point and he would prefer it if he wouldn't have to do it. In this case, however, he must use it to gain a lead into what he sought. The symbols he received, though, were anything less than helpful. He grabbed a nearby knife and cut his hand, letting the blood flowed freely down into the basin.

Equivalent exchange. For every piece of information he gained through this way, something of equal value must be offered if he wanted to avoid the _Debt Collector_. With each droplet of blood, the water turned clearer and clearer until all traces of the white smoke disappeared altogether. Finally, only the circular mirror remained at the bottom of the transparent water.

"A hawk and a shark… What could they mean?" Niijima said as he absentmindedly clean up the equipment.

\- o – o – o – o -

To Zoro, the older male was a strange person, if not a little bit secretive. He didn't know how Niijima would fare in a fight, but from what little he gleamed, the man was no pushover. He remembered the state Jango was in and also Niijima's pristine condition, if not for his bloodied clothes—but the man was already wearing the bloodied shirt when they first met. From his speculation, it was a very clean fight for Niijima. At this point, he couldn't tell if Niijima was strong or not, but if they were going to be heading into the Grand Line, everyone would need to pull his own weight.

He hadn't fully trusted the man yet. Even more so, when said man showed up with a bandaged hand. For now, the swordsman would keep an eye on Niijima. If Zoro noticed the bandage around Niijima's hand, he didn't comment much about it aside from a curious quirk of an eyebrow.

Usopp, however, was more vocal in his curiosity. "When did you get that wound?"

Smiling enigmatically, Niijima replied, "It's just a small wound. Nothing to worry about."

They gave him another look before each went back to their own business. It wasn't until Luffy decided to shoot at the nearby rocks that things took on an interesting turn.

"What are you doing?" Usopp called and headed over to Luffy, who was fiddling around with the ship's cannon.

Witnessing Luffy's horrendous aim, Usopp couldn't help but took the cannon from the captain. Proceeding to shoot at the rock, his aim flew true and as the rock shattered upon impact, Niijima could have sworn he saw something behind the explosion of dirt and stone.

And that was the cue that Luffy needed to hold a crew meeting. With the whole crew ushered into the kitchen, where Luffy proceeded to name each crew's member's position, the deck was left free for attack.

"That's it. I have decided! You shall be our sniper!" Luffy said and pointed to Usopp, who looked extremely proud of himself. He began to marvel at his greatness and at the same time, trying to convince the crew to vote him as captain, which they all promptly ignored.

"And ossan! You shall be the ship's mystery man!" He ignored the boasting Usopp and turned to Niijima. His gaze appeared to be sparkling in excitement.

"Oi, oi, I don't want to have such a crappy title…" Niijima deadpanned. There was no way he would be known as the ship's Mystery Man.

"What? Why not? It suits you. You are always doing that voodoo magic thing," Luffy pouted.

"First, it's Onmyoudo, not voodoo. Second, people who practice Onmyoudo are called Onmyouji. Third, it's not magic, but science for the supernatural." He couldn't help but disagree. As a scholar in the art of Onmyoudo, one could not simply label it as mere magic.

For a moment, Niijima thought he had finally gotten through Luffy's thick skull when suddenly the boy blinked and exclaimed. "Yea, that's mystery man, someone who uses mystery power!" He wiggled his fingers around for added dramatic effect and Niijima was hit with an urge to swat those disrespectful fingers away.

"Oh for heaven's sake, if you can't say Onmyouji, then at the very least, call me an exorcist." He grumbled, arm crossing over his chest in a displeased manner. "Although that's still not very accurate." He mumbled, more so to himself than other.

"Okay! You shall be our ship's exorcist then!"

Nami shoot him an unimpressed look as she raised her head up from her map, "You do know that there's no such thing as a ship's exorcist position right? That's just a glorified self-proclaim title."

"Hush, you. Don't pop my bubble, girl."

"Actually, I think on some ships, I heard that that position was usually filled by a priest." Usopp interjected and Niijima was glaring at him long before he could finish that sentence.

"Please, don't label me as a priest. I can still marry, thank you very much."

"Guys, can we stop discussing about this. We have something else more important to discuss." Zoro said before the conversation could come in full again.

"Like what?"

"Oh yea, I remember now. We're still missing one more important crew member to fill in one important position before we could really set out toward the Grand Line." Luffy exclaimed, making sure to use the words important twice for emphasis.

Hearing the unfamiliar terminology, Niijima raised his hand. "Excuse me, but what's a Grand Line?"

"Huh! You haven't heard of the Grand Line before and yet you are sailing with us!?" Everyone exclaimed in various degree of shock, Luffy more so than the other.

"You should count yourself lucky that you are traveling with us. You would not even survive on the sea for one day if you had sailed by yourself," Nami sighed out of exasperation. "How could you not know the general geography of the world?"

"Well excuse _me_ ; I'm not exactly from around here!" Niijima said defensively and crossed his arms over his chest.

"And that just got me curious. Guys don't just appear out of nowhere like you did." Nami frowned and got into a thinking pose. "Makes me wonder what you did to warrant that treatment."

Her question raised several eyebrows and Zoro looked to him expectantly. However, Luffy came to the rescue.

"Guys, guys, that's not important! What's important is to look for a new member!" For someone so carefree, Luffy was pretty sharp. The young captain could sense the feeling of unease from their eldest when that question was posed. At the same time, he could also feel that the older male was not ready to share his story with them yet.

Conceding to his wish, Nami sighed and dropped the topic. "Well, I do agree that we need a new crew member." She looked meaningfully at the stove and admire the kitchen's wooden walls. "After all, we do have this lovely kitchen here."

Catching on to Nami, Zoro perked up. "Yea, we would definitely need that member on our crew."

"Ooh! You guys think so too right!?" Luffy bounced up and down in excitement.

"Yea, definitely, having a cook who really knows what he is doing would be a great help." Usopp added and Luffy immediately tilted his head in confusion.

"Ha?" He asked, not comprehending what his crew was talking about.

"Wait...If it's not a cook we are talking about, then what position are we talking about?" The rest of his crew asked simultaneously, each spotting a different degree of confusion.

"A musician, of course!"

It was silent for a while before the whole kitchen was filled with outburst.

"Are you retarded!?"

"What the hell, Luffy? You got your priority wrong!"

"And here I was thinking that you have finally thought of something smart…"

"Captain, I feel like I have understood you better from that statement alone..."

"What!? Pirates need to sing too!" Luffy pouted, but before anyone else could respond, a loud crash signaled the enemy's attack.

"Come on out! You pirate scum! How dare you kill my partner!" A gruff male voice said. From his voice alone, it appeared to belong to a man in his early twenty.

"I'll go take a look." Luffy said and disappeared out the door before anyone could protest.

Curious, Nami and Usopp peered out from behind the window of the kitchen. Niijima stole a concerned glance at the door but shrugged it off when it appeared that there was only one enemy. Hearing that, Zoro, too, calmed down, confident in his captain's ability.

Although as the fight drags on, more and more crashes could be heard on the deck. Niijima could not stand it any longer and opened the door. Luffy should have knocked the opponent out as soon as possible. At this rate, the ship would be damaged more than it should have been!

Whatever he was expecting, he was not expecting to see Luffy stretching his arms like rubber. He blinked once, then twice, and turned to look at Nami and Usopp. Seeing their nonchalant looks, he asked. "Is that normal?" He pointed at the absurd sight.

"What? The stretching part? Yea I was pretty surprised too." Nami nodded.

"He ate a devil fruit." Usopp explained. "You'll get use to it."

Well, the thing was, Niijima had no clue what a 'devil fruit' was supposed to be! He added that to his growing list of questions. "Can you explain that? What's a devil fruit?"

Nami and Usopp turned to him once more and blinked. "You have never heard of it?"

"Uh...no? Should I?"

"Where in the Four Blue have you been!?"

"Guys, guys. I don't know what it is, alright?" Niijima put his hand up in a placating manner when Nami and Usopp bellowed at him in shock. Another crash reminded Niijima of his concern. Before he could do anything else, though, Zoro walked passed him with an impassive look. Apparently, the noise level was getting too much that even Zoro was annoyed.

While Zoro went to deal with the newcomer, Nami and Usopp gave Niijima a quick run down of Devil Fruit. The more Niijima heard from them, the more fascinated he became. He couldn't understand how a fruit could simply grant the consumer a unique power at the cost of his or her ability to swim and something about being weak to water, especially sea water. It was unheard of! And his captain was a consumer of one of those fruit, a Gum Gum Fruit, to be exact! It was simply fascinating and eye opening. It seemed like this world was a lot more dangerous than he thought if human could gain ability like that.

The commotion outside suddenly quiet down when Zoro recognized the enemy. Even so, the ship had taken plenty of collateral damage. That was how they met Yosaku and Johnny, the duo bounty hunters. It was also when the crew discovered the invisible threat known as diseases. Of course, it hadn't really clicked then that they needed to have a doctor on board. Part of it was due to the way Nami handled the situation. When they discovered that Yosaku was inflicted with scurvy, Nami had shown that she was very knowledgeable with the disease.

One thing led to another and the crew was sidetracked by the beautiful kitchen that the Merry-go was equipped with. In the end, Luffy decided that it was a cook that they need and here they were, on their way toward the Baratie, a sea restaurant – courtesy of Johnny's direction. Niijima supposed, this was a great turn of event. Where else could he acquire more information if not at the Baratie, a mobile restaurant! Surely, one of the guest there must have a lead for his search?

It was there that Niijima got a taste of this world's version of law enforcement. He wasn't sure if this was what a Marine was supposed to act like, but this Fullbody person was haughty beyond words, as if he simply could use his status to get away with anything. The fact that bystanders seemed to cater to his words spoke volume of the world's politic. From that alone, it didn't take him long to figure out that the Marine had a great influence over the global welfare. He should keep that in mind for any future endeavor.

A loud bang broke him out of his musing as a cannon ball was shot at their way. He hadn't needed to do anything when Luffy inflated himself into a giant balloon—an act that still baffled Niijima, no matter how much he told himself that this was a different world. It seemed like it would take a while for him to get used to this new environment.

All things aside, what should have been a perfectly reflected attack missed the target entirely. Instead, the roof of the Baratie exploded as the returned cannon ball crashed into it.

"Where the hell are you aiming at!?" The crew cried out in alarm.

It would have been a funny sight if Niijima hadn't caught the stern look on Nami's face as she gripped the bounty poster tightly. She appeared shaken by what she had seen on the poster. Stowing that bit of information away, Niijima turned away and pretended he hadn't seen anything.

\- o – o – o – o -

While Luffy went to apologize for the damage, the rest of the crew docked the ship and entered the restaurant. Stationing around a round table, they each ordered from the menu. Niijima glanced uneasily at the menu when he didn't even recognize half of the ingredients used for certain dishes. Opting for a more safe choice, he went with the dish that he knew what the ingredient was.

He glanced warily at Nami. Knowing the girl, he wasn't sure if this meal would be taken out of the crew's fund or if each of them had to pay individually. Either way, he shouldn't risk it for now. Setting down the menu, he decided he would just grab a cup of water or something. In the meantime, he had something more important to do. Letting slipped two paper dolls along the ground, he moved them around the area, listening for anything interesting and at the same time taking care to not be seen by other people.

One particular piece of information caught his attention as it was regarding their captain, Luffy. Apparently, the boy would have to work one full year as an errand boy to pay back for the damage he did to the restaurant. Hearing that news, Niijima couldn't help but frown. If Luffy was staying here, then there would be a very high chance that they wouldn't be sailing anywhere else. If that was the case, it would be terrible for his goal.

Speaking of the captain, Luffy came up to the table wearing the typical apron of an errand boy. Niijima shot him a frown while the rest of the crew were oddly amused. He simply couldn't understand how this was an amusing situation. For now though, he would have to wait and see. Excusing himself from the group, he went back to the ship and attempted another divination. He never noticed the looks the other gave him when he left.

"Hey, don't you think Niijima-san was acting a little bit weird?" Usopp started.

"Just leave him alone." Zoro grunted and picked up a glass of water. Noticing the booger in it, he turned around and shoved it into Luffy's mouth. That was enough to cause Usopp to break into a snicker.

Nami gave a glanced at the guys but didn't say anything except to frown. She was distracted, however, when Sanji, the cook came swooning after her. Suffice to say, he didn't even stand a chance before she dwindled a free meal out of him.

Back on the ship, Niijima meditated in the bunk room with another basin in his hand. He growled in annoyance at the latest reading. No matter what he tried, the vision was always the same, a Hawk and a Shark. He tried one last time and was surprised when the Hawk's symbol was a little bit blurry. Usually when a symbol was blurry, it signified a choice. Someone relevant to the reading must have made a choice and the future was changed. He swooped his hand once more and a blurry symbol of an Orange showed up. What did an orange have to do with anything!?

"Is it so hard to give me a clear reading for once?" He pleaded to the sky, but sighed when silence met him.

Two days had passed since then with Niijima growing more grumpier with each day passed. So far, he had tried divination, scrying, and even dream walking. None of it had produced anything relatively relevant. It had always been about a hawk, a shark and lately, an orange. No matter how he thought of it, the signs were there, but they were not clicking to him in anyway. He knew that there would be a choice somewhere in there, but he didn't know who would make those choice and how it would relate to his mission in anyway!

If the numerous cut marks on his hands were not enough proof of his desperation, the fact that he considered going with Yosaku and Johnny spoke much of his states of mind. It didn't help that his strangeness had already begin to draw suspicion from the other crew members.

Finally, Usopp couldn't stand it anymore and decided to confront the older man about his recent behavior. "Uh, Niijima-san, are you alright? Where have you been getting all these wounds from?"

"And no, I don't want to hear that everything was fine. Something was obviously not fine." The long nosed sniper cut Niijima off before he could say anything. Usopp gestured to the various bandage covering the Onmyouji's arms in a frustrated manner. The man's black jacket was flung over his shoulder and he had his shirt sleeves rolled up for convenient sake. It would take too long to roll up the sleeve every time he needed to pay the price for his divination.

Sheepishly, Niijima pulled the shirt sleeves back down to hide the wounds. "I know what I am doing, so you don't have to worry about it." His business was his own and he shouldn't really share his burden with other people. "I apologize though, if it had worried you."

"It looked self-inflicted." Zoro called from the railing when he noticed one of the freshly cut one that hadn't been completely covered in bandage.

Niijima scowled when he caught onto what's Zoro was implying. "I am not suicidal, if that's what you are thinking."

Whatever they were about to say next was interrupted by a large shadow looming over them. Turning their heads, they were greeted by an eerie galleon that looked so torn and worn down that it could have been mistaken as a ghost ship. The sails were ripped and the figureheads were smashed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this ship must have gotten caught in a particular nasty storm.

"It's Don Krieg's ship!" Yosaku and Johnny called out and the Straw Hat pirates quickly tensed for any kind of confrontation.

"This couldn't be any good." Zoro murmured while Usopp and Nami shivered out of fear.

Niijima sighed in relief when it looked like they weren't going to press on with their questioning. He wasn't exactly keen on explaining his situation. Though from another point of view, there really was no harm in telling these kids about it. It was not like it would affect them anyway.

"I'm gonna take a look. You guys coming?" Zoro shot Niijima and Usopp a look, which Niijima inclined his head while Usopp shakily replied. "Y-yeah!"

"Sorry guys, I'm staying here. I'm not that good with fighting, anyway." Nami perked up and received a nod from Zoro.

"In that case, Yosaku, Johnny, can you stay and watch over the ship?" He asked the pirate hunter duo, who nodded.

With everyone role's assigned, the trio headed into the restaurant, just in time to hear Luffy disagreeing with Don Krieg's statement of who should be Pirate King. Truth to be told, Niijima still didn't understand the significant behind that statement. Apparently it must have been a big deal when everyone just looked at the boy in shock, some in anger.

"Oh goodie..." Niijima sighed. He didn't expect trouble to be this soon when he agreed to go take a look.

"Need a hand, Luffy?" Zoro called and suddenly everyone's attention was on the three of them.

"Ah, everyone. Nah, I'm good."

Don Krieg took one look at them and laughed in a haughty manner, "Is this your crew? Three meager men?"

He mocked them and proceeded to recount how his crew of thousands men and fifty ships were defeated by the Grand Line. While Niijima didn't know how true his statement was, but from Don Krieg's tattered states, he concluded that it must be true. Even after he left, what was more shocking was when his subordinate, Gin, claimed that their whole fleets were taken down by only one man.

At that point, Niijima truly didn't know what to believe anymore. On one hand, he would like to think that said man was exaggerating, but the reaction from the various cooks around quickly dissuade that idea. He was more interested in the blond cook, who Luffy pointed out as their potential new crew mate.

From what he had seen, Luffy sure had a good eyes for picking up crew mate. Sanji, the cook in question, seemed to be a "good" guys, as Luffy putted it, or trustworthy in Niijima's words. He was roused from his internal musing when Gin began to describe the person who was responsible for their defeat.

"It's just too terrifying to believe..." Gin recounted as fear laced his voice. "That hawk-eyed man… I can't forget." He shivered and brought his hands up to his face.

Both Niijima and Zoro quickly snapped their heads toward Gin. The crew member glanced at once another in surprise but quickly focused their attention back to Gin.

"Did you just say 'hawk'?" Niijima sharply cut into his monologue.

Gin shakily looked up and said, "Y-yes, his eyes were like a hawk..."

This was it. The sign was finally showing itself! Maybe he would be able to get some information from this person. However, he needed to be careful, if what Gin said was true. Going in unprepared will get him killed.

The owner of the restaurant, Red-Leg Zeff, interrupted. "Well, there could only be one man that fits your description and could sunk your fleet, as you described it. It's Hawk-eye, no doubt."

While everyone reacted with a degree of shock and awed, Usopp just had to break that by asking Luffy, "Who's that?"

"Beats me." He shrugged and all traces of seriousness was gone.

Zoro gave Niijima another glance and answered Usopp's question. "He's the man I'm—or should I say, we're—looking for."

His eyes locked momentarily with Niijima's, who asked, "What do you know about him?"

Zoro quirked an eyebrow at the question, "You could say that he's the greatest swordsman in the world."

"That's bullshit!" Gin shouted and everyone's attention was back on him. "There should be no reason to attack us simply because we disturbed his nap."

"No need to be so irritated. That was just an example. It's the Grand Line, where the abnormal is the normal." Zeff shrugged. "Things will happen without reasons or with the oddest reason."

Contrary to others, Luffy was extremely excited by Zeff's words and Niijima could see the appeal in that. In the world where every day life was a repeat of yesterday's events, people will crave for something new. The Grand Line sounded like a place of wonder and adventure, yet dangerous—a theme that was very appealing to people who are tired of the normal life.

"Well, regardless. It seemed like my goal now lied in the Grand Line, since that man is there." Zoro commented and leaned back against the seat.

Niijima thought back to his personal goal. If his interpretation of the reading was correct, then this hawk-eye man held the one of the key to his quest. It wouldn't be too far fetched to conclude that his highest odd of finding what he was looking for was in the Grand Line. Similar to Zoro, it seemed like he should stick close to Luffy for now—although the boy would seriously need to get himself out of debt as soon as possible. While Niijima pride himself as an honorable man who wouldn't necessary betray people, even he had tolerance of how much time could be wasted.

Having overheard the conversation, Sanji commented, "You lots are all idiots, rushing to your death like that."

Zoro's next lines caused Niijima to see the swordsman in a new light. Zoro was someone who knew exactly what he wanted and what he needed to do to get to that stage.

"Ever since I've decided to be the world's Greatest Swordsman, I threw away my attachment to life. The only one who have to right to call me an idiot is me alone, and no one else."

"Well said," Niijima nodded. "Only yourself can decide what is right and wrong."

"Oh, me too!" Luffy quipped, followed by Usopp, who said, "As a man, the same goes for me."

Of course, that last statement was quickly called out by Zoro, who hit Usopp with the hilt of his sword, as if to wake Usopp up from his dream. "Liar."

Niijima took one look at his companions and smiled in nostalgia. He was like them too, in the past, but that past was no longer possible to go back to. He shook his head. He shouldn't get too attached to these people.

"Is he the one you are looking for?" Zoro asked, recalling Niijima's joining condition.

Thrown off guard for a second by the unexpected answer, Niijima blinked. "Huh? Oh, no. He's not the one I am pursuing, but I think he holds the key to my quest."

Zoro raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn't comment.

Speaking of the devil, Don Krieg's galleon creaked ominously as it cracked in half, courtesy of his pursuer. Everyone's jaws simultaneously dropped at the shocking sight. The colossus galleon was gone, just like that.

It was a moment of silent as everyone tried to compute what they have just seen. Niijima didn't know who moved first, but it was chaotic as everyone rushed to their stations. As the giant galleon fell into the water, the waves produced from the impact was enough to wash everything away.

"Shit! Check the Merry-Go. Nami and the others are docked there!" Zoro shouted, but Luffy was already running ahead of him. Luffy didn't need to be told for him to be concerned for his crew mate. The moment he realized the danger the wave posed to his friends, he was already off.

Usopp, Zoro and Niijima quickly followed him. They were stunned when they saw Yosaku and Johnny trying to stay afloat the crashing waves. The Merry-Go was no where to be found.

"Aniki!" Their cries of distress snapped them out of their confusion. "Nami-aneki took the ship!"

"What!" All four of them shouted simultaneously.

Recounting their tale, they spoke of Nami's weird behavior, ranging from checking the bounty up to the point where she took their treasure and shoved the duo over board. Her last words, according to them, had been, "Tell the others that if we're truly linked by fate, we'll meet again."

"Silly girl..." Niijima sighed as the other reacted negatively to her betrayal. They were mostly troubled and frustrated by the fact that Nami ditched them during this "crisis" as Usopp so aptly put. But, Niijima didn't consider this to be a crisis. If anything, this was a golden opportunity for him to witness the strength of someone who frequent the Grand Line. This should be a good gauge to see if they were ready for such a grand adventure.

"Wait," Luffy said, "I can still see our ship."

"Just leave her be. There is nothing good with having a thief on our seat." Zoro shrugged and didn't seem to be that much concerned about the betrayal.

"But what about our ship!? She took our ship! That's important too!" Usopp protested. If Zoro wasn't so intimidating, Niijima was sure that the long-nosed boy would have been grabbing at his collar and shaking him.

"I will reserve my judgment until I hear an explanation." Niijima crossed his arms over his chest. If his gut feeling was right, then the Orange symbol must have been referring to Nami. The choice that Nami made was reflected in his reading. If the reading told him that she would be able to guide him to his goal, then she must have her reason for betraying them. Now he just needed to figure out what the Shark meant.

"Zoro, Usopp, I want her to be my navigator, no matter what." Luffy stated seriously. He didn't include Niijima in that statement after what the man had said.

The two paused from their musing. Grumbling, Zoro shook his head, "Fine, fine. Why had I chosen to follow such a captain?"

"Captain?" Niijima looked to Luffy as the other headed toward Johnny and Yosaku's ship. He hadn't really decided if he wanted to stay and help or if he should go.

"Sorry, I can't go yet. I haven't paid them back for what I did yet. I'll catch up with you later."

"Be careful, Luffy. Things will get a bit rough here." Zoro said and was about to board the ship when the atmosphere changed.

People was shouting and men was running around. But above all, one lone black boat sailed in between the split galleon.

"Don Krieg! It's him!" In the midst of all the shouting, that was the clearest of all and it signaled the beginning of something much more dangerous.

Niijima could feel the sharpness in the air digging into the back of his neck, as if someone was holding him at blade point. Throughout his career, he had encountered many individuals before and individuals who left such an impression on him was countable with two hands. If this man in question was the norm in this world, then this just proved to be a lot more dangerous. He might not even be alive by the time he found the enemy!

"Impossible! Why did he follow us here!?" Don Krieg clung to the ship's railing fearfully.

Zeff took one look at the incoming danger and nodded. "No doubt. That's him. The world most renowned swordsman, 'Hawk-eyes' Mihawk."

"Damn it! What did we ever do to you!? Why did you follow us here?" One of the pirates shouted at Mihawk. The response he received was one of the most unexpected one.

"Just to kill time."

"Bullshit! Don't fuck with us!"

One of the men fired at Mihawk, but the swordsman merely withdrew his sword and redirected the bullet's trajectory. His movement was so quick and smooth that Niijima had trouble following. From that moment forward, he realized that if he ever got into a melee fight with this man, he would lose. The only way to even have a chance against him was if he had sufficient time to prepare his spells and as long as he stayed at a distant where he could safely predict the attack. That was under the assumption of flying slashes caused by the cut in the atmosphere. That was often the common case with most swordsman. After all, every competent melee fighter must have at least a few ranged attacks in case they couldn't reach the enemy.

When Zoro challenged the man, Niijima already knew the boy would lose. He just simply didn't have that air of sharpness that this Mihawk person exuded. Seeing the conviction in Zoro's eyes, however, Niijima could only prepared for the aftermath. Zoro wouldn't be swayed anyway, especially not when he was this determined.

Off behind him, Usopp was anxiously calling after them when he noticed Nami was sailing further and further away. If they didn't leave now, they wouldn't be able to know where Nami was going. His voice fell deaf to his crew mates as the others watched Zoro's carefully.

"Zoro-kun won't win..." Niijima murmured.

"Hey, don't talk about Zoro-aniki like that! He's strong!" Having heard the man, Yosaku couldn't help but defended Zoro. There was no way that the person he admired would lose!

Ignoring him, Luffy fixed Niijima a serious gaze. "You sure, ossan?"

"As much as I hate to admit, but yes. Mihawk is much stronger than him."

The young captain didn't say anything except to grip the railing tighter, a fact that did not go unnoticed from Niijima's eyes. "Don't worry, captain."

Niijima said and put a reassuring hand over the boy's shoulder. "Everything will be alright."

Confirming Niijima's assessment, Mihawk pulled out a small knife that couldn't even be called a sword and used it to block Zoro's attack. The man did it with such ease that it spoke volume of his skill and strength. With every strike from Zoro, Mihawk would parry the attack with that tiny knife.

It was fascinating as it was the first time Niijima witnessed a Santoryu Style. The way Zoro swung his three swords around and the way he held it was eyes opening. Never in his life would Niijima imagined using the swords that way. Again, to be fair, he wasn't a swordsman to begin with, so figuring out how to use three swords were never his priority. Even so, he could tell that it was no easy feat.

Abruptly, Mihawk lunged and slipped past Zoro's guard. With one smooth movement, the dagger buried itself into Zoro's chest.

"Zoro!" Luffy shouted and the railing beneath his hand broke.

For a moment, no one spoke. In the silent, the conversation between the two swordsman were loud and clear.

"Why won't you step back?" Mihawk asked. "Do you wish for me to pierce your heart?"

"Beats me. I don't know why, but I have a feeling if stepped back, I would have lost something important. And I wouldn't be able to get back to where I am standing now." Zoro wheezed as blood flowed down his mouth and chest.

"Yes, that is defeat."

"Ha! Then the more reason I can't step back."

"Even if it meant your death?"

"I'd rather much die." Zoro stared into Mihawk's eyes, not looking away as he declared his conviction.

Apparently, he must have seen something in Zoro's eyes. Under everyone's gaze, the world renowned swordsman withdrew his dagger. "Kid, tell me your name."

That seemed to be a signal when Zoro positioned himself for one final attack. "Roronoa Zoro."

Similarly, Mihawk drew his sword, the one that he refused to use on Zoro in the beginning, and said, "I shall remember it. And to pay respect to a fellow swordsman, I shall end this duel with my black sword."

After saying that, he lunged at Zoro as the boy also unleashed his own secret attack.

" _Three Sword Style Secret: Three-Thousand Worlds_ _!"_ Zoro shouted as he spun his three swords and met Mihawk head on.

With a loud clank, Zoro's swords crumbled beneath Mihawk's parry. Only the swords in his mouth remained. Without him seeing, he could tell that Mihawk was about to struck his back. Sheathing his swords he turned around and stretched his arm wide open, causing Mihawk to paused momentarily.

"What are you doing?"

"A wound on the back, is the shame of a swordsman."

"Splendid!" Mihawk said as he swung his sword, but quickly leaped back when his sense alerted him of incoming danger.

As soon as he leaped back, a torrent of paper talismans flew passed his former spot. Like the sound of birds flapping, the talisman swerved and floated protectively in front of Zoro. Zoro recognized these paper. He had seen them once before back at Kaya's place and he only knew of one person who could use these.

Niijima didn't know why he chose to interfere. Even if he told himself not to get too attached to these teenagers, seeing the way Luffy had been so stressed about the situation was like turning on the protective switch in him. Aside from that, even though he hadn't interacted that long with the green-haired boy, Niijima surely didn't wish for him to die!? They reminded him so much of his students that before he knew it, he was already intercepting Mihawk's strike.

"Sorry, Mihawk-san, but I can't let you kill him." Niijima smiled enigmatically, though the smile never reached his eyes. His eyes was cold and serious. He could not afford to drop his guard against an opponent like Mihawk.

"Who are you?" Orange met Niijima's brown eyes in a challenging manner.

"What are you doing, Niijima!?"

"Saving your life, brat. The least you could do is to refer to me as Niijima-san." He snapped, eyes never taken off of the opponent.

"Ossan!" Luffy looked relief when Niijima interfered. Zoro was quiet as he realized how much he had worried Luffy. While he mulled over his defeat, Niijima continued.

"And to answer your question, Mihawk-san, I'm just a fellow crew member. Like I said earlier, I can't let you kill him. My Captain was getting a little bit agitated, you see."

Mihawk fixed a curious glance at the floating papers and turned his gazed back at Niijima. "Interesting. I thought your kind had all died off long ago."

Niijima tensed, "My kind?" Whatever he was expecting, he was not expecting for this!

"You don't know?" He lifted an elegant eyebrow and something seemed like amusement entered his eyes.

As sudden as it came, the man moved. If Niijima hadn't been watching earlier, he would have been sliced in half by a flying slash coming at him. Fortunately, the talismans immediately aligned themselves into a net formation, forming a barrier that blocked the incoming attack. It was powerful, Mihawk's slash. Niijima had to focus most of his energy to counter the force behind that flying slash. Even then, the barrier briefly flickered and the aligned talisman exploded into a shower of strips of paper. The attack had been neutralized but at the cost of a hefty amount of talisman. Niijima himself was not left unscathed, suffering some internal injury from the after force, but he masked it well with a strained smile.

Retaliating, several talismans broke away from the protective circle around Zoro and swept at Mihawk like swallows, slicing and pecking at the man. Without batting an eye, Mihawk swiftly cut down any incoming pieces of paper.

"What do you mean?" Niijima stated in a tight tone when things calmed down bit. He had thought that he was the only one in this world. Discreetly, he swallowed down the blood that threatened to spill from the corner of his mouth.

"Long ago, the World Government ordered the death of your kind." Mihawk said, voice devoid of emotion. "I supposed, it's really none of my business, but I must admit. I am curious of your ability." He relaxed his stance and glanced at the wary Niijima, who knew the man was anything but relaxed.

"There is a saying that curiosity kills the cat, Mihawk-san." Niijima tightly stated. There was something shocking about this conversation. Just what had the Onmyouji done in this world that warranted a mass genocide!?

"Oh, is that right?" Mihawk said but sheathed his sword. Even so, the tension between the two man was no less than before. "No matter. We'll have to test that some other day." He said and Niijima was fine with that. He had never wanted to show off too much of his ability where so many people could see it.

Still, what Mihawk said was troubling. Remembering the reading, he shouldn't have actively sought out the hawk. Once again, divination proved to be too finicky for him to grasp the art. After the swordsman's statement, everyone present could be a potential enemy. Perhaps, the most concerning was this "World Government" that Mihawk spoke of. He ignored the looks he got from Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku. Only Luffy seemed to be unfazed by Mihawk's declaration.

"Now, back to you." Mihawk disregarded Niijima when it looked like the Onmyouji would not attack him again. "Although your friend there interfered, I have never intended to kill you. It is much too early for you to die.

You must know thy self, know thy world, and become stronger, Roronoa. No matter how many years or months pass by, I, Dracule Mihawk, shall stand atop of the world and wait for you. So force on ahead with that fierce conviction and try to surpass my sword!''

Staring straight into the boy's eyes, Mihawk announced. "Surpass me, Roronoa!"

Zoro gritted his teeth as he admitted his defeat. Through this exchange, he had realized how outmatched he was. The defeat was humiliating but he must endure. Drawing his sword, he lifted it up high and made an oath to Luffy.

"Luffy! Sorry for worrying you. I know… that if I don't become the world's greatest swordsman, I will only embarrassed you. That's why I'll swear here. That I'll never lose again! Until the day I fight him and win, I will never lose again! You got that, Pirate King!?" Zoro roared emotionally into the sky as he made his oath to his captain.

"Yup!" The smile that Luffy returned was one of the biggest and brightest Niijima had ever seen on the boy. He must admit, the smile was contagious for Usopp, Zoro, him, and Mihawk of all people was smiling.

"Pirate King eh? That's a tough path, indeed." Mihawk nodded in amusement. "You two would make a good pair, and you Onmyouji, I wish you luck as well. The world won't be so kind to you now that your kind had resurfaced once more."

With that said, the world greatest swordsman turned to walk away, but not before Don Krieg's stupidly interrupted. Of course, Mihawk just took one bored look at him and swung his sword, creating a huge gust. When the whirlwind was gone, the man, too, had disappeared along with his boat.

Hopping into the boat, Niijima, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku sailed to pick Zoro up. As Zoro passed by Niijima, he murmured, "Thanks, Niijima...san." The man had at least earned that much from Zoro. He didn't have to block the attack and in turn draw the swordsman's attention to himself. As he did, Niijima had drawn more trouble than worth.

"Don't mention it." Niijima smirked and lightly knocked on Zoro's shoulder, but anyone could see that the smirk was strained. "Now, let's go get our navigator back."

He stole a look back at Luffy and grunted. "Captain will be fine. After all, he won't be fighting alone."

Following Niijima's gaze, Zoro's eyes landed on Sanji, their potential new crew mate. "Ah, I think you're right."

"Luffy!" Usopp hollered. "We're leaving! So make sure to get our cook! When we have six member, let's all sail to the Grand Line!"

"Yea!"

\- o – o – o – o -

With that said, the crew parted way. With the way it was, it was difficult to locate Nami. If not for their delay, they would have been able to follow her. As it stands, they could only sail in the general direction they last saw the ship. The atmosphere was a little bit weird, especially after what happened. Usopp shiftily glanced at Zoro and then at Niijima, as if he wanted to say something. Finally, as if making up his mind, he awkwardly said.

"So...was what Mihawk said true?" He started, unsure of the reaction he would receive.

"Usopp, let's look for Nami first." Zoro interrupted before the can of worm could be opened. Granted, Niijima was as clueless as the rest of them. Zoro's interference was welcome but unneeded because the man himself was as curious as they were.

"But Zoro-"

"Nami's first. That was Luffy's order," the green-haired male firmly said.

"R-right, so, where do you think Nami was heading to?" Usopp stammered, but received negative responses from the companions.

Going with the flow, Niijima decided to change the subject. "Say, this may sounds strange, but if I said 'shark,' would that be helpful in anyway?"

"A shark?"

"What, where!?" Usopp automatically shouted and looked around warily for the iconic fin.

"No, no. I'm just saying. There's no shark here." Niijima furrowed his brow. "I know it sounded weird, but I just have a feeling that-"

"Wait!" Johnny held up a hand to stop Niijima from talking. "That's it! Arlong's Park!"

"Right! The fishmen! Arlong is a shark fishmen!"

Niijima looked to Usopp and Zoro for help. "Uh...what's a fishmen?"

That sparked off an impromptu lesson on the different between fishmen and merfolk. By the end of the explanation, the only things Niijima got from that was fishmen are fish with human characteristic while merfolk are human with aquatic creature characteristic. Still pretty confusing to him.

"Ok, so fishmen are like Kappa and merfolk is ningyo. Got it."

"I have no clue what a Kappa is, but ok." Usopp commented dryly.

"Well, since that's that. I'm gonna tell the Captain of our finding." Niijima said and rummaged around for a paper doll.

"How are you going to do that?"

"I have my ways," Niijima gave them his signature mysterious smile, which Zoro just grumbled. "You and your mystery power."

"I heard that. It's Onmyoudo, by the way." He quipped and murmured a quick spell. It was a good thing that they hadn't sailed too far away from the Baratie. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to maintain the spell.

"Are you sure you should be doing something like that?" Zoro couldn't help but be concerned, especially after what Mihawk said.

The doll stiffened and stood up on Niijima palm. Using his index and middle finger, he drew some form of incantation on the doll and watched it morphed into a swallow.

"Honestly, no, I don't think I should, but then again, it's our only mean of contacting the Captain." Niijima frowned and paused when he realized he didn't know where they were going. "Where are we heading to, again?"

"Arlong's Park on Conomi Island—if our deduction was correct. But Niijima-aniki, can't we just send a message to them _after_ we have confirmed it first?"

"I wish I could but there are two problem with that. One, the distant will be too far for me to maintain the spell. Two, even if I could send the message, Luffy might have already set sail." Niijima shook his head. Focusing back onto the spell, he finished up the instruction and threw the swallow up.

"Go." He commanded and the bird flew away. If one were to glance at it, one wouldn't suspect it to be a paper doll at all.

Mulling over Niijima's reply, Zoro sat back and frowned. The more he witnessed Niijima's power, the more he became mystified by it. Mihawk's words came back to him and he couldn't help but be troubled by it. On one hand, he was sure Niijima would be able to hold his own in a fight—after all, one didn't simply block the attack of the World Greatest Swordsman so easily.

On the other hand, he was conflicted when it came to the crew's safety. After his match with Mihawk, he realized there were far stronger enemies out there. If the World Government were to send someone after them now, it would be disadvantageous to the crew. Steeling his resolved, he would just need to become stronger. Strong enough to be on the same level as Mihawk. Only then would he be able to protect the crew.

In his musing, he failed to notice the slight grimace and furrowed eyebrows on Niijima's face. Nor did he notice the way the older male would nurse his chest, as if trying to stabilize something. Wordlessly, the four of them sailed toward Conomi Islands.

\- o – o – o – o -

… To Be Continued.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own anything aside from my OC. One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

 **AN:** Merry-Go will now be referred to as Going Merry so passages would flow better. Enjoy reading and leave a review!

\- o – o – o – o -

The trip to Arlong Park was oddly quiet and peaceful, saved for the few times that Usopp bragged about his fearless self in face of anger. However, it became apparently clear that the boy was anything but fearless as he grown more subdue as the island slowly drawn into sight.

Already, just from the way the architecture is built, with two stone walls leading into a smaller enclosure of the sea, Niijima could tell that the structure was designed for mobility—and not to mention, a perfect place to set a trap. If these "fishman" was what Usopp and others told him, being an expert underwater would naturally give them an edge over the vessel sailing above that particular space. Naturally, to turn a ship around require time and space. It would be difficult to escape that area should those fishman turn hostile.

What further caught his eyes was the tower that stood ominously behind a set of steel gate. There would be no guaranteed their entrance should they so choose, to foolishly enter that water. Nay, to do so would be a disgrace to an Onmyouji of his stature, who pursues the art of tactics and strategy.

It was, with this mindset, that he frowned at Usopp, who eagerly announced "their"-as the boy like to believe—decision would be to sail straight toward the Going Merry, who just so happened to dock not so far away from that dangerous zone. It certainly doesn't help that Zoro, who Niijima had trusted to at least have some sense in him, was equally nonchalant about the matter; as if the teen was confident he would be able to cut down those who barred his path.

Certainly, Niijima was inclined to agree with the swordsman, after seeing his prowess with said blades against Mihawk; but that was before he broke two of his blades and not to mention, was currently injured. Even he knew that the human body wouldn't heal so fast with a knife wound so close to the heart! Surely, the youngsters in this generation were all pretty hot blooded.

Fueled by the energy of baseless confident—more so with Usopp, than Zoro—Johnny and Yosaku were equally eager to test their might against the fishman. After all, Zoro-aniki would surely be able to handle them. At the moment, it seemed like Niijima would have to be the voice of reason in his battle-hungry group.

With great difficulty, he managed to persuade the knuckleheads to dock somewhere more obscure, and, preferably, they should swerve slightly off course. Granted, he wasn't sure if the fishmen had set up some form of patrol around the island. Even so, he like to think that not sailing directly in plain sight would at least increase their chance of infiltration. It simply would be far too brash to rush into a situation without understanding the head from the tail. Especially not with him injured like that, he would prefer not to exacerbate his internal wound until he could at least stabilize it somewhat.

Following Niijima's advice, the group docked their boats into the more secluded part of the island, where overgrown foliage and flora would serve as a suitable cover for their vessels.

Slowly, the group wandered off into the closest trail they could find, waddling through bushes, taking care not to make to much noise—or at least, only Niijima seemed to be doing.

One moment he was watching Zoro heading straight, the next moment, the green-haired teen swerved left. That was one thing. The second thing was Usopp incessant chatting that just screamed for the enemy to find them.

"Where are you going, Zoro-kun?" He sighed and once again dragged the younger male back on track, who had the decency to look embarrassed, claiming that it was the tree that moved.

It had become apparently cleared that Zoro's sense of direction was a little bit...off—for lack of better words and that was already the nice way of putting it. How could he wander off when there was Usopp in front of him to lead the way!? Sighing, Niijima turned his attention to Usopp, who he was about to berate, if not for the abrupt halt in his mid sentence.

Seeing Usopp and the other two so quiet suddenly was not a good sign.

"What's the matter?" Zoro voiced the question that was plaguing Niijima's mind.

They too, was momentarily stunned by the spectacle in front of them. Niijima knew that he should be somewhat wary of the fishmen, but he hadn't known they were such a threat. Before him, all the houses and buildings he could see were flipped upside down, with their roofs buried a good few meter beneath the ground.

"Oh dear," Niijima pressed his lips into a thin line. Things had just gotten a lot more serious than he thought.

Shaken from his thought, Johnny murmured, soft enough for the groups to still hear him. "They said that a fishman has the strength ten times that of men from the moment they were born."

Yosaku said in a tense manner, "This is the strength of those from the Grand Line and the outcome for going against them..." He trailed off, for the scene already spoke for itself.

Recovering his composure, Zoro gave a blood thirsty grin at the prospect of the challenge ahead. Niijima rolled his eyes and lightly shook his head at Zoro's expression. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going through the swordsman's head at the moment and Niijima couldn't help but sigh for the trouble that would inevitably occur in the future. He just simply wanted to find the Crown, kill the damn _Fukitsu-mono_ and be done with it. At his age, he just wanted to live in peace as a professor, thank you very much.

Drawing the group attention, a soft sound of feet striking against the ground greeted their ears. In this deserted town, even the slightest noise would seem awfully loud, much less the sound of a kid running. In his hand, a gleaming blade of standard quality.

Niijima frowned at the sight. The kid's actions appeared to be one born from grief and vengeance, if his expression was anything to go by. At his age, Niijima had seen quiet a few share of kids like him, rushing into territory they shouldn't have gone without sufficient research. And all of them, most often than not, ended in failure. If the kid was marching down this way, then this could only mean one thing.

He instinctively turned toward the direction the kid was looking at and frowned when he saw a group approaching. From their builds and silhouette, they did not appear to be human.

"We should hide." Niijima warned the rest.

While Usopp and the other two was quick to obliged, Zoro threw a meaningful look at Niijima and frowned. Zoro couldn't understand Niijima's logic, truth to be told. For someone who was so strong, hiding would be a cowardice move. The swordsman was sure that with just the two of them, it would be simple to defeat this approaching group of fishmen, who looked to be party three.

"Why?" He voiced his question, hand gripping his sword in a preparation manner.

"It is almost never a good idea to plunge headfirst into situation we don't understand." Niijima offered a quick explanation when it looked like the teen wouldn't budge. "We should pick battle only when they are necessary."

While Zoro agreed that the older man had a point, he still felt it would be the most efficient to take out the fishman now and interrogate them for Nami's whereabouts. After all, if they were going to be fighting against the fishmen either way, why not start the fight now than later? Taking out more enemy at the moment would be advantageous in the long run. He told Niijima as much, who nodded at the teen's argument.

Even though Niijima did not completely agree with it, he understood the point Zoro was trying to make. With a sigh, he nodded. "Alright. I supposed we could deal with the problem now than later." He shook his head, conceding to the younger male.

"Wait, no! You guys, uh, can go take care of them. We'll just observe the situation from h-here!" Usopp said, using Niijima's earlier point as an excuse. He turned to Yosaku and Johnny for support, who hesitantly nodded.

Giving him a knowing smirk, Niijima replied. "Sure, Usopp-kun. Make sure you gather as much information as possible."

"Let's go." Zoro grunted just as the three fishmen came within view.

"Hey! Who are you guys?" One of them asked, clearly surprised by the additional human in this deserted town. They were sure that all the human in this area had already been dealt with for their rebellious nature.

"Just a group of pirates looking for their friend." Zoro answered neutrally. "You don't happen to have seen a young lady with orange hair, who goes by the name of Nami, did you?"

The fishmen glanced between one another before they burst into a huge laughter, seemingly amused by what Zoro had said.

"What's so funny, gentleman?" Niijima interrupted.

Still snickering, one of them said, "Hey brothers, these must be Nami's latest victims."

Niijima momentarily sharpened his gaze before relaxing back into an innocent smile. "Victims? We're just looking for our friends."

This prompt even more laughter from the group, "Oh man, she got them good this time."

Next to Niijima, Zoro lips began to curve downward, settling into an unpleasant frown as the pieces of puzzles began to fit together. His hand instinctively reached for his sword, ready to threatens these fishmen for more information if needed.

However, he didn't get a chance to question the fishmen any further when the boy they saw earlier roared past them. Sword in hand, the young boy looked murderous at the three fishmen.

"Damn you fishmen! I'll kill you!" He screamed and swung his sword.

Of course, the fishmen was not about to let said sharp object come into contact with them. Reacting to the assault, one of them moved to strike. That was all the cue Zoro needed to unsheathe his sword and for Niijima to pull the boy back.

With a loud clank, Zoro parried the fist away from the boy, just in time for Niijima to pull the boy back by his shirt's collar.

"Kid, get back. These guys are way out of your league." Zoro said as he readied another stance.

The kid was too stunned to muster up a response. He was obviously shaken up by the event that had transpired. If green-haired man had not blocked the blade and the other pulled him back, he would have been pummeled to death.

Just as the tension was rising, a feminine voice cut in, "Don't attack the fishmen!"

Even so, Zoro did not turn around, keeping his eyes locked with the fishmen in a challenging gaze. On the other hand, the older member of the crew turned around and saw a blue-haired female, who wore a headband to keep her medium length in place, ran up to them.

"Chabo! I told you not to go after them!" She scolded and pulled the boy back from the two strangers and the fishmen.

The boy, now dubbed Chabo, did not reply, still in shock from the near-death experience.

"I don't know who you are, but step back, girl." Zoro said and lifted his blade up, just as the three opponents readied their stance.

Said girl look to be about to say something but was unable to when Zoro and his opponent quickly engage into a dance of blade and fist. Granted, it was more of a one-sided match than a dance. His opponents must have severely underestimated him, for they only stood by as they watched their brother fight against him. It was their arrogance that brought about their defeat as Zoro make quick work of the single opponent he was facing. With a graceful slash, the fishmen was down as blood seeped onto the ground.

Seeing their brother beaten so easily by this swordsman, the remaining two both went toward him at once. However, before either could do anything, something splash messily over their face, obscuring their visions.

Niijima noticed them to be eggs, and judging from the smell, rotten eggs to be exact. He stole a glance over at Usopp and shot the young boy a thumbs up for a well-aimed shot; just in time for Zoro to make quick work of the remaining two fishmen.

With a fling, the swordsman removed the blood away from his blade and sheathed it gracefully back into its white scabbard. On the ground, two more fishmen joined their fallen brother, unconscious as blood began to pool beneath them.

"Weak." Zoro commented dryly and Niijima must agreed with him. He hadn't expected them to be taken down so quickly; especially not after witnessing what they did to the houses nearby.

Seeing the danger passed, Usopp and co leaped out from the bush and made their way toward them. All the way, Usopp boasted, "Ha! They were no match for Captain Usopp. Fishmen aren't so tough after all!"

"Now, now, Usopp-kun, these three may have just been an outlier," Niijima was quick to pop that bubble before it could grow even larger. "Although, it could have been possible that they are all brawn and no brain." While he admit, that these fishmen could flip down houses like they were nothing, if strength was all they have then fighting them would be easy. After all, it wasn't hard to lure an idiot into a trap in a fight involving strategy. There was exception to this rule, of course, but today was not the day.

"I could have gotten those two, by the way," Zoro commented just as Usopp was bragging about his skill, completely killed the good mood the long-nosed boy was enjoying.

As the two crew member bickered, Niijima turned his attention to the girl and the kid instead.

"W-what have you done!?" The girl seemed shaken by the event and growled at them, drawing all pairs of eyes toward her.

"I don't see the problem here, young miss," Yosaku said.

"As we see it, Zoro-aniki dealt with them so easily, there shouldn't be any problem." Johnny added.

"You fool! You have just brought the fishmen's ire toward us! We need to leave this place now!" She snapped and took Chabo with her urgently.

Seeing that she was not being followed, she turned around and snapped, "What are you guys waiting for? Follow me!"

The men glanced at one another before Zoro shrugged. Taking that as a sign, the group followed after her.

\- o – o – o – o -

Arriving at the destination, Niijima resisted the urge to facepalm. In their short journey from point A to point B, they had lost Zoro, literally. The Onmyouji swore, the first thing he did would be attached a tracking spell on him so that younger male would not wander off on his own and in the process, become lost. Getting lost in an unknown territory just screamed bad-ends to him. Johnny and Yosaku, upon noticing that their Zoro-aniki was gone, volunteered to look for him. Currently, only Usopp, the girl, Chabo and him remained in a cozy house surrounded by groves of tangerine.

As the girl berated the kid for his rash behavior, he briefly overheard Nojiko's lectures on wasteful and mindless sacrifice speech for the young boy and decided it wasn't worth his attention. It wasn't in his place to lecture someone who had to just met and the young girl was doing a fine job at giving the kid an earful of his rash behavior.

Niijima tuned them out in favor of observing the surrounding, which seemed to pack a good amount of tangerine trees. He recalled his previous fortune section and realized more and more of the pieces had began to fall into places. When he had asked the world for a brief view of the future, he had asked with the intention of looking into the missing Crown. The fact that those three symbols showed up must be related to his quest somehow. From the Hawk, he had gotten a very interesting bit of information about this world's Onmyoudo. Perhaps, the Shark and the Orange—or should he said, Tangerine now—must held a piece of the puzzle as well.

"This is N-Nami's house?" Usopp's outburst drew Niijima away from his musing.

"I'm sorry?" He quirked an eyebrow, and only now did he realize, the kid had left already. Too engrossed in his musing, he was taken off by the unexpected announcement.

"This is Nami's House," The girl, who introduced herself as Nojiko, said, shrugging nonchalantly.

For a moment, Usopp seemed shock at the revelation and Niijima must admit, it was scary how much of a coincidence this was. After all, what was the odd the girl they met was Nami's sister? Of course, an ancient text once said, there is no such thing as coincidence in this world, only the inevitable. Perhaps, this was one of those situation.

One thing led to another and soon the whole story how Nami was forced to work for the Arlong's pirate in order to save the village came into light. After listening to the whole story, Niijima could only nodded in acceptance as the girl's maturity and hardship. For that, Nami had earned his respect for being so strong even for one so young.

Usopp, on the other hand, was very verbal about this news. At first, he was bitter about the whole lying act—even though he, himself was a liar—the more he heard about it, the more mellowed he become.

Suddenly, something caught Niijima's attention from the corner of his eyes. It appeared to be a female with an interesting hairstyle similar to that of a Mohawk—except there's also a ponytail. Her fuchsia hair was the only distinctive feature over her hazy appearance. She looked into the house through the window and gazed at Nojiko. Niijima was not sure how to discern that gaze and felt somewhat uneasy. Could she be haunting these two girl?

Even though he hadn't known Nami for that long, he would hate it to see Nami—and by extension, her sister—suffer the same fate as Kaya did.

It could be said that Nami was an acquaintance and potential friend of his. As an acquaintance, he had an obligation to help her out when it came to dealing with the supernatural. After all, it would have been terrible if he were in her situation. Imagine this, if he were to be haunted by a ghost, and Nami had the ability to prevent said ghost from harming him—but she chose not to do so—surely, it would sour whatever relationship he and she had.

On closer inspection, the spirit wore a pale blue plaid shirt with navy blue pants, giving off a very tomboy image. Abruptly, one moment she was there and the next she was gone, as if fading away. It was brief, and had Niijima was not sure of his vision he would have doubted the woman existed at all.

Curiosity pique, he turned to the other and excused himself. "Excuse me, Usopp-kun. I'm going to do some surveillance around the area."

"Forget it, old man. You better leave this place and take Usopp-san with you, too." Nojiko hollered when he swung the door open.

"Thanks for the concern, young miss, but I'll be fine." He gave them a brief nodded and shut the door, leaving behind a displeased Nojiko and a confused Usopp.

It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. Traveling through rows after rows of tangerine tree, he went deeper into the greenery.

A breeze swept by, carrying with it a scent of the ocean. Inhaling the air into his lung, he briefly enjoyed the calmness and the refreshing feeling the ocean gust brought to him. Air of this quality was a rarity back in his world, where industry had longed since destroy the delicate air in his city.

As he stepped closer and closer toward the source of interest, the bushes began to thin and before he knew it, he arrived at a cliff, where the vast horizon greeted his eyes. Or it would have, if not for a wooden cross staring back at him.

A Grave. His mind concluded.

There was no name, but the condition of the grass surrounding the grave spoke volume of how well loved this person while he or she was alive. Only said people would have others took care of his or grave this meticulously. Well, even so, he had other goal to do after tracking down this interesting grave. No doubt, this must be belonging to that spirit he saw earlier.

Briefly, he bought his hand together to pay respect to the dead and gave a bow. When he lifted his head up, however, the fuchsia-haired spirit was sitting atop of the grave in a bored manner. Although, there was a curious looked on her face, as if asking him, what he was doing here.

"Do I know you?" She wondered to herself, but never expected to here a reply from the man.

"No, I think not. Spirit-san." Niijima greeted, surprising the spirit.

"You can see me!?" She said, drawing back her hands in shock. The sudden movement was enough to throw her off balance as she wobbled back and forth on the wooden beam. Alas, she wrapped her arms around the vertical beam and regained her balance.

"Phew… that was close." She breathed and wiped off an imaginary sweat from her forehead.

Niijima stared at her for a while, an unreadable expression settled over his face. The two stared at one another awkwardly before Niijima slowly asked. "...You do know that gravity doesn't effect you, right?"

"S-shut up! You got a problem with that, punk?" She crossed her arms over chest in a defensive manner and huffed.

"No, no, no." He raised his hands up in a placating manner.

"What is it that you want anyway? Otherwise you wouldn't have followed me." She sighed, mentally arriving at the conclusion that this stranger must have followed her to be able to find this grave.

"Like I said, I was just curious. Today is not _Obon_ , so how is it that you were able to cross over?" Niijima frowned, getting to the point.

"What the hell is an _Obon?"_ She said, testing the unfamiliar words with her tongue.

"The day when ghosts and spirits are allowed to cross over to this world to visit their living family members." Niijima felt the need to explain. There was a possibility that this island had a different name for the festival or believe.

Now it was her turn to frown. "I have no idea what strange things you are talking about."

Sighing Niijima rubbed his temple as he felt a headache coming up. This world's Laws were just too confusing for him. "Well, then, my next question is, why are you haunting Nojiko and Nami?"

He fixed her with a cold glance. If this was anything like Kaya's case, then he should nip the bud before it could bloom.

The spirit met the his glare with a guarded look of her own. "Who the hell do you think you are, punk. To march up to my grave and question me about my life?"

A strange breeze began to pick up speed around the cliff, sending blades of grasses off into the air and rustling the nearby trees. The once peaceful clearing was now overcharged with tension and a strange sort of energy.

"Nami is a fellow crew member of mine. I think that should be enough reason to exorcise you before you could feast on her sister or her life force." He said and settled into a stance, preparing for an inevitable battle.

"A crew member? So you are with Arlong!" She growled as the wind howled around them. Out of nowhere, a musket formed in her hand and she leveled it at Niijima. Without waiting for him to respond, she fired.

If Niijima had been a regular human, spirit attack of this caliber would simply phased through him. But because he had become aware of the spirit—and as a practitioner in the art—the Law of the Spirit World now governs his action as well. That's why there is a saying in the Living World, that should one spot a spirit, one should do one's best to pretend they don't exist. For if one acknowledges the other, one will have a foot step into the other world.

If the bullet hit him, it would hurt just like a real bullet would. Ducking, Niijima let the bullet sailed past him and retaliated by sending several talisman at her, which she dodged by side stepping. Utilizing her spirit-given body, she snaked into his range and performed a drop kick toward the man.

He brought his arms up to block the kick, but winced when the internal injury he received from Mihawk hindered him. He frowned; the injury was worse than he thought. Even so, he managed to cushion the blow somewhat.

"Die, you pirate scum. Don't you dare try anything funny with my daughters!" She snarled and applied more pressure to the kick.

"You are mistaken," He grunted as he pushed against her leg. "I am not with Arlong."

Both of them recoiled back from the mutual force, each pausing and glanced at one another warily as their brains worked to process the information.

"Daughter?"

"You're not with Arlong?"

There was a brief moment of silent before each of them warily lowered their guard.

\- o – o – o – o -

After the two had calmed down, Niijima had explained the situation to the best of his ability. At first Belle-mere was skeptical of Niijima's claim, often interjecting to question him for any flaws in his story. She was especially put off that Nami joined the Strawhat Pirate, and that took some convincing from Niijima's to placate her growing anger. Even so, by the end of the tale, Belle-mere now had a better understanding of the current situation.

"I see. So let me get this straight" The ghost, Belle-mere, said. "You are telling me that my daughter, the same one who hated pirate so much, joined one."

"Yes."

"And one reason or another, she betrayed you guys, and now you guys are after her."

"Yes, but not with the way you put it. My captain only wanted us to persuade her to join us again because he genuinely believe her to be a good person." Niijima defended, drawing on what little knowledge he knew of the younger boy.

"Well, the only way I see that happening was if Arlong is gone. If your captain couldn't defeat him, then you are better off forgetting the whole thing altogether." She said and leaned against her grave. At the same time, she took another at the tobacco—that she pulled from somewhere—and exhaled.

"I supposed, you're right." Niijima nodded and frowned again, "And please stop leaning against the grave, even if it is your grave." He was starting to becoming uncomfortable with the way she blatantly stepped on top of the mount like that; even if it was technically her property...

"Shut it, you. It's my grave. I can do whatever the hell I want with it."

"That aside, back to my earlier question. Are you haunting your kids? Because if you are, I would have to ask you to stop, even if you are their mother."

She murmured something beneath her breath, far too low for him to here. Before he could ask her to repeat her murmuring, she fixed him with an unreadable look. "Say, you want to here a story of a dead woman?" She dropped her cigarette, fully expecting him to agree. Giving it a good squeeze with her shoes—even though she had no need to, given her dead status—she waited for Niijima's response.

Shrugging, Niijima complied with the sudden change in topic. Based on past experience, he found that it would be easier to ask the spirit to move on if he listened to their rants.

Taking that as a yes, Belle-mere told him a story that began with a stormy night and two orphans. It didn't take a genius for him to figure out that she was telling him _her_ story. From the moment she adopted them till the moment she died at the hand of Arlong, she told him everything.

"So, you see. If you asked if I am haunting them because I still have regret in this world, then no I'm not. I knew that Gen would take care of them in my stead, even if I am no longer there..." She sighed and gazed at the sea. During her tale, she had switched her position so that she was resting her forearms against the wood as she faced the sea.

"Then why are you here? Only ghosts that had regret could linger in this world and we call that haunting."

"Well, I don't know. I knew I already moved on when I died. It was just several weeks ago that I suddenly found myself awake." She said and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Before I knew it, I was hovering over my grave."

Niijima raised an elegant eyebrow in a disbelief manner. "What? You don't just pop up out of nowhere and be a ghost again once you have already moved on. Well, unless it's _Obon_ but that's a whole different story, and you said you don't even observe that holiday!"

"How am I supposed to know!? And aren't you the ghost-expert here?" She scowled.

"The correct terminology is Onmyouji, and no, I don't know," He deadpanned, "which is why I'm asking in the first place. Your situation is a strange one."

"Well, excuse you."

Sighing, he took out a talisman. "Regardless, now that I've heard your story, I'll kindly ask that you move on."

"Nope." She popped her mouth at the last syllable.

"What do you mean nope!?" Niijima cried, completely caught off guard by her attitude.

"Well, now that I got a chance to see my kids again, and knowing how terrible Arlong is, I don't want to leave yet."

"That's not how it works!"

"Oh shush. Same thing. How about I made you a deal? Get rid of Arlong and you'll get rid of me."

Niijima crossed his arms over his chest and growled, "No. No deal. You do know you would eventually need to draw life force from your surrounding to sustain your body, right?" For some reason, the woman had been perfectly fine at sustaining herself, which puzzled Niijima greatly, who couldn't begin to fathom how that could have happened in the first place.

"One or two more days won't hurt. I'm sure your captain should arrive soon." She shrugged. "Point is, I'm not draining anyone right now, so it's alright."

"How the hell are you doing that anyway?" Niijima grumbled and ran a hand over his hair in an attempt to hide his frustration. Conversing with the ghost had been more trouble than it worth. Her tomboy personality, plus her stubbornness was extremely annoying to deal with.

She shrugged again. "No idea."

"I'm sorry, but I will need you to move on. The Living World is not where the dead should be." Niijima said, all trace of leniency gone from his voice. Even if he was sympathetic of Belle-mere, staying in the world of Living as a ghost was harmful to both the living and the ghost herself.

Sensing the hostility in his voice, Belle-mere prepared to confront the man once more before something interrupted them.

A loud crash had both of their head snapped toward the source of the sound. Niijima immediately grew uneasy by the way the bird had stopped chirping.

"Don't think I have forgotten this, Belle-mere-san," He gave her a warning and rushed back to Nami's house.

Growing equally concern for her daughter, Belle-mere, too, followed swiftly after his footstep. Spotting Nojiko, Niijima hollered. "Nojiko-san, what happened!?" His eyes trailed over to the flipped house, which had it roof buried deep into the ground, and arrived at an unpleasant conclusion.

"Where's Usopp-kun?" He said, eyes never left the broken house.

"Great, Niijima-san, you're here! Hurry, you need to get your friend out of here!" She said and explained everything to him. "Arlong's searching for him!"

From what he heard, Usopp had foolishly fired at Arlong in order to save Gen, who appeared to the be the man with a pinwheel on his hat. While Niijima disapproved of the way Usopp so blatantly drew attention to himself, he could not help but give the boy some credit for his bravery.

His plan was a sound one—to draw attention away from the priority target. However, the sharpshooter's execution of said plan left much to be desired. He clearly knew that these fishmen was dangerous to confront directly. What he should have done was to discretely create a distraction.

Sighing, Niijima asked, "Which way did he go?"

Nojiko hesitated since she didn't want to give him a wrong answer. When Arlong flipped over the house, she had lost sight of the long-nosed boy. Giving Niijima the wrong direction now would just hinder the man even more. "I'm not sure." She frowned. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It was not your fault." Niijima acknowledged the information and nodded. Hand reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a stack of talisman, an act that drew curiosity from both Belle-mere and Nojiko.

"What are you doing?" The blue-haired teen couldn't help but ask when Niijima placed the stack in his palm. On closer look, they appeared to be humanoid-shape, looking like paper doll instead.

Ignoring her, Niijima muttered a soft incantation and Nojiko watched in amazement as the talisman began to hover away from the stack. One by one, they peeled away from the center of his hand, morphing into swallow as it did so.

"Find Usopp." Niijima commanded when the last piece of talisman had left his hand. The swallows gave a few chirps of affirmation and flew away, no doubt, searching for the target.

In all her life as a former Marine, Belle-mere had never seen something like this before. At first, she thought it was the power of a devil fruit, but the more she observed the man, the more confused she become. As a whole, Devil Fruit only granted the user one core power. Niijima's ability was too diverse for it to be the work of Devil Fruit.

She couldn't help it but voiced her question, "What _are_ you?" Placing heavy emphasis on the words.

If Nojiko wasn't here, Niijima would have responded to that question. He did not appreciate being questioned like he was not human.

"How are you doing that?" Nojiko asked.

"Trade secret." Niijima responded, hinting that she shouldn't ask anymore question. Tuning her out, he focus on the various feedback he was receiving from his Shikigami. He would need to act quickly. Knowing Usopp's strength, the boy would not survive against the fishmen!

It didn't take long to find him running into the curtains of foliage, seeking shelter from his pursuer. Unfortunately, his pursuer was hot on his heels. Through the Shikigami's vision, Niijima was above to discern the person going after him was a fishman with an elongated mouth and plump lips. Just as he was wondering about the unusual face composition, his unasked question was answered when said fishman inhaled and spat a mouthful of spit at Usopp.

He watched, fascinated by the projectile that sailed across the air like bullet. Fortunately, it missed but Niijima knew that that was not the end of it. Immediately cutting off the connection to the other Shikigami, he recalled them as he actively headed toward the direction of his crew mate.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Nojiko asked.

He didn't bother gracing her with an answer. At the moment, Usopp's safety took priority over everything else. Multitasking, he told the swallow to guide the boy toward safer place while at the same time, gravitating closer and closer to him.

\- o – o – o – o -

Usopp was running for his dear life, breaking branches and leaves along the way. He didn't care that he was scratched all over because he knew, this was the more prefer outcome than the alternative. A sudden explosion caught his attention and he stole a glance at his pursuer.

His eyes widen comically and his mouth fell open when he noticed the fishman was shooting water bullet at him—from his mouth…

"What the hell!? That's not fair!" He screamed and ran faster for his dear life.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw something white creeping up to him. At first, he thought it was a new attack, but he shrieked when it was not what he was expecting. A white swallow was flying next to him!

"Go away you stupid bird! I'm trying to run away here!" He shooed the bird away, only to received an indignant peck from it.

Suddenly, it swerved and nipped at at Usopp's shirt. Flapping it wings, it pulled Usopp to the right, surprising him greatly. He didn't understand how a small bird could have so much strength as to pull him! However, he wasn't given a chance to ponder that question when a water bullet sailed past him where he was formerly.

"T-Thanks bird," He murmured weakly and continued to run.

However, the bird seemed to have another idea as it pulled him further and further to the right, as if it wanted him to head right. Catching on, Usopp allowed the bird to guide him. He figured, since it helped him earlier, this bird was something he could at least trust.

"It's no use running away, human."

From behind him, he could hear the way the fishman mocked as a series of water bullet sailed through his way. A quick jump to the side allowed him to dodge them. They continued like that for a little while longer.

If one were to ask Usopp, what were three things he was good at? He would respond: lying, running, and shooting; in no particular order. Even if he was confident with his running away skill, it had been a while since he sprinted. Unfortunately, Usopp-kun was only a human and there was no way an ordinary human like him could hope to out run a fishman. With their superior strength and stamina, it was a given that eventually, they would catch up to Usopp.

Panting, he gasped for air as his pace slowed. He had hoped, that he would have lost the fishman by now. Mustering up his courage, he stole a glance behind him and felt his hope shattered as a water bullet headed straight for him. In his mind, he thought that was the end of him when suddenly, the bird that had been accompanying him flew into the way and took the brunt of the attack.

"No! Little bird!" He cried in anguish. The little companion was dead because of his carelessness.

Instead of exploding into a cloud of gore and blood, what greeted him was a shower of paper shredding. Yet strangely, there appeared to be some sort of elasticity to them, as if they were made out of plastic.

Regardless, the spectacle was enough to put both his pursuer and himself into a brief halt, wondering what it was that they have just seen. Then, suddenly, Usopp remembered.

He mentally slapped himself for his shortsightedness. How could he have forgotten Niijima's power!? The man had shown him he was capable of morphing a paper doll into a swallow back when they were traveling. He should have made the connection earlier.

Recovering faster than his opponent, he pulled out his signature slingshot. " _Hissatsu_ _: Lead Star!"_

His opponent was not one to dawdle when an attack was coming. Strangely enough, the fishman stood his ground, as if he wanted to mock Usopp by letting the lead ball hit him. If anything, from his action, it could be said that the lead ball was more of a nuisance rather than something he should be concerned with.

"Is that all, boy?" The fishman taunted. "Let me show you what a bullet should—hey! Get back here!"

"Fool! As if I would stick around," Usopp murmured to himself.

Typical of Usopp, the master of hit-and-run, the boy was already making his getaway dash the moment he saw that the lead ball had dealt no damage. He didn't want a repeat of the previous scenario, if he could help it. With the bird gone, he wasn't sure if he would be so lucky this time.

"Now you are just asking for it!" Even without turning around, Usopp knew something dangerous was about to come his way.

He pushed himself even more just as he heard his opponent announced his attack.

" _Water-Gun!"_

Usopp was given just a few second to dive away when a torrent of water bullet completely destroyed the tree barks and the surrounding ground.

Shrieking, Usopp quickly jumped back up and ran away with renewed energy. Diving behind a tree, he took shelter from the relentless attack. Just as he thought the worse was over, he heard the dreadful announcement of the next attack.

" _Water Canon!"_

A ball of water, around the size of a medium-sized hot air balloon was launched his way. It crashed against the tree and for a moment all Usopp could hear was the sound of water grinding against the wooden bark. He could hear his heart beat beating faster as each seconds roll by.

In this situation, he asked himself. For what reason did he set out? It was for the adventurer, to be the brave warrior of the sea. He decided. Was hiding behind a tree like this all he was willing to do?

He remembered the resolve he had seen back at the Baratie. Zoro had been willing to face Death just to pursue his dream of being the World Greatest Swordsman. He questioned himself, if he had the willpower to fight through and decided, yes he did.

Even if he was not as physically strong as Luffy or Zoro, his dream of being the Brave Warrior of the Sea is worth pursuing for! Stilling his resolve, he decided, he would fight his opponent, Usopp's style. He may not be strong, but what he lacked, he made it up with cunning. His hand went into his bag and it touched something. Suddenly, a plan began to form in his head.

At the same time, everything had suddenly became too quiet. Something told him that he needed to get away now! Wasting no time, he followed his instinct and moved away from the tree. Just in time to witness the frightening sight of the fishmen literally ripping the tree trunk in half!

"Found you." He smirked and hoisted the trunk above his head.

Acting quickly, Usopp threw the item he was holding at the enemy, watching it in satisfaction as it exploded, soaking the enemy with its content. However, at the same time, his opponent threw the trunk at Usopp, who could only watch in horror as it come closer and closer to him. He shut his eyes and braced for impact and in his moment of fear, he thought he heard Niijima's voice.

"Usopp-kun! Are you alright?"

Wait, he hadn't imagined it. That was indeed Niijima's voice. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was surrounded by several swallows, forming a support against the tree that would have crushed him. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet and rushed to stand next to Niijima, who moved to stand protectively in front of him.

"Who are you?" The fishman asked, cautious of the sudden newcomer.

"No one important." Niijima said and swiped his hand horizontally. Acting like puppet being controlled by strings, the swallows dispersed and sped toward the fishman like dart to a target, pointing at him with their beaks. Folding their wings to their sides, their shaped just made it that much more aerodynamics.

Displaying a skill he hadn't shown before, the fishman adopted a stance similar to Karate. With a few swipes of his hand, he completely destroyed the incoming birds, turning them back into paper.

Just as Niijima was about to follow up with another attack, Usopp acted.

" _Hissatsu: Fire Star!"_

Announcing his attack, Usopp launched an exploding pellet at the distracted fishman. Coming into contact with him, the explosion quickly ignited the liquor on the soaked shirt and body, setting his whole body on fire. Panicked, the fishmen hurried back toward the source of water nearby to douse the fire. However, Usopp was not about to let that happened. Brandishing his trusty hammer, he literally flew toward the retreating fishman and smacked the hammer against the opponent's head.

Off to the side, Niijima could only watch in amusement at Usopp's ingenuity. He couldn't help but shake his head when Usopp relentlessly hammered strike after strike at the poor fishman's head. Although, he supposed, with strength and resistant like those of fishmen, this level of attack was justified.

Originally, he hadn't expected Usopp would be able to defeat his opponent like that. Granted, Niijima did serve as a distraction, but the fishman was already somewhat exhausted from having to chase Usopp around non-stop. Niijima must give credit where it was due, of course.

When the opponent was down for good, Niijima approached Usopp and gave him a pat on the back. "Good job."

Giving a nervous laugh, Usopp looked as if he couldn't believe he just did it! He had defeated a fishman! Hearing Niijima's praise just ascertain that he too, could do it, if he wanted to! Acting out of habit, he immediately switched back to his usual self and said, "A-h-hahaha, as expected of Captain Usopp, of course."

Before they could even take a break, however, the nearby foliage rustled with the footsteps of incoming danger. From the way they stomped on the ground, it did not sounded like the footstep of human. Frowning, Niijima immediately pulled Usopp back and find a place to hide. Injured as he was, he didn't think he would be able to fight to the best of his ability in this situation. Being surrounded now would be a very bad scenario for them. With no choice, he could only wait and see and prepared for the worse.

At the same time, a certain swordsman and two pirate hunters were approaching a particular landmark on the island. More specifically, they were making their ways toward Arlong Park…

\- o – o – o – o -

To be continued...


End file.
